Weeknotes 450

Roger on 14/03/2025

I did:

  • Talked through some ideas on how to help product managers go looking for worthwhile problems.
  • Used the theory of change and the business model canvas to describe a future opportunity.
  • Chatted to a project manager about some work they are doing and that I might take over product managing when the project ends.
  • Thought a bit about the difference between products and platforms.
  • Did some analysis on leadership models to help us think about future needs.
  • Read a market analysis report which made me think about ‘where to play’ strategy choices.
  • Finished planning a workshop for next week.
  • Started applying for an MBA.

The numbers

Tasks completed: 36

Minutes in meetings: 585

Anchors and AI

I setup anchor links for headings on my website to make it easier to link to things in my weeknotes.

And added more to my AI horizon scanner. I’m now up to 50 entries going back to 2015.

I read/watched:

Public sector AI week

Watched some of the talks for public sector AI week.

AI-driven business model innovation: A systematic review and research agenda

This is the kind of thing product managers should be reading about AI. It suggests companies are approaching AI from a technology application perspective and not giving enough consideration of the business model.

The state of product management

I read ProductPlan’s state of product management 2025 report.

Three highlights:

  • Product strategy is a central focus
  • Product teams favor tool consolidation
  • AI is more prevalent and more concerning

Systems thinking differently

Watched a presentation on systems thinking by one of my colleagues. They talked about how “high performing, adaptable organisations recognise the importance of continuous evolutionary change in response to the changing external and internal environmental conditions”.

I thought about:

Unit of energy

I prefer to think about work as using my energy rather than using my time. I don’t judge a day’s work by the number of hours spent on my laptop, I judge it by how drained or energised I feel.

But I’ve been thinking about how time and energy fit together. Most meetings are 30 or 60 minutes, which gives us an average of 45 minutes. With breaks and interruptions, that gives us 8 blocks of 45 minutes a day, and not entirely coincidentally, I average 7 tasks completed a day. So maybe one unit of energy equates to 45 minutes. Sometimes it’s focused energy, like in a meeting, and sometimes it’s spread over the day.

Flexible working

Maybe the shift in work being more flexible is (or at least should be) rooted in the definition of work being more flexible. Maybe it used to be that our definition of work was more fixed. It only happened at the workplace, during work hours. But nowadays, with more work being knowledge work, what we define as work should be more flexible. If I think about work as I’m taking a walk, am I working? If I read a book one evening to improve my professional knowledge, am I working?