Weeknotes 485
I did:
Talk, talk, talk
“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” -Bernard Baruch.
- Planned out team capacity and budget for the next year. It’s like the behind-the-scenes of our roadmap.
- Talked about product KPI’s.
- Facilitated a retro.
- Talked about recruitment challenges.
- Shared my initial thoughts on product strategy and big bets for early feedback.
- Had lots of wonderful chats with other product managers. It’s always energising.
I read:
How to think about bets
What is a Bet? In gambling, it describes the act of risking something of value (usually money) on an uncertain outcome with the hope of winning something of greater value. In our context, a bet represents a logical container of investment (time, attention, focus, energy, and funds) that we are willing to risk for achieving a desired impact.
The past and future leader
“Less time spent on administration and more time on data insight with AI governance means leaders and managers could oversee larger and more diverse teams… One possible and more negative future is where leaders manage AI while AI micromanages individuals who then have less autonomy and agency.”
It made me think about whether the history of leadership can tell us anything about the future of leadership.
“Drath et al, propose an ontology in which the essential entities are three leadership outcomes: (1) direction: widespread agreement in a collective on overall goals, aims, and mission; (2) alignment: the organization and coordination of knowledge and work in a collective; and (3) commitment: the willingness of members of a collective to subsume their own interests and benefit within the collective interest and benefit… Adopting such an ontology would mean that talk of leadership would no longer necessarily involve talk of leaders and followers and their shared goals, but would necessarily involve talk of direction, alignment, and commitment. Likewise, to practice leadership would no longer necessarily involve leaders, followers, and their shared goals but would necessarily involve the production of direction, alignment, and commitment (which may or may not involve leaders and followers).”
If we merge these two perspectives it’s clear the future of leadership doesn’t look much like the past.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – A Complex Systems Critique
Simple linear reductions of complex contexts aren’t helpful.
People’s minds
Products are always about how people think and feel and behave.
How to think strategically when AI is changing search, discovery, and distribution
Interesting thinking about product discovery as AI takes over search.
I thought:
#NoAlignment
The problem with the idea of alignment is that it assumes there is something fixed to align to. It doesn’t recognise everything is always changing and moving.
I have the same problem with roadmaps. They show one perspective at one point in time, when really everything is changing all the time.
Personally, I like the ambiguity but our tools for thought aren’t designed for ambiguity.