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There Isn't a Right Way to Do Product Management

Toby Rogers
Toby Rogers
@tobiasrogers
Hello fellow punks! 
Welcome to the 11 of you who have signed up for this since the last issue. It’s great to have you on board. Hopefully you’ll stick with me while I figure out what this newsletter is all about.
Here’s this week’s issue ⬇️

Is this Gantt chart even real?
As product managers, we spend a lot of time talking about the right way to do product management.
We read books and blog posts that give us an idealised view of software development, and we’re quick to pour scorn on the tools and frameworks that don’t fit.
But are we right?
If we distil the role of product management down to its essence, it’s to help your team (and company) ship the right product to your users.
So, how do we make sure we’re doing that?
The answer, like a lot of product management questions, is it depends.
It depends on the team.
It depends on the company.
It depends on the product.
It depends on the users.
Shreyas Doshi
In product work, there is no One Right Way.

Those who refuse to accept this and demand empirical proof should simply look at Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google. Each has had a market cap of ~$2T and they have always operated fairly differently from one another.

No One Right Way.
The sooner we all stop chasing the “One Right Way” the better.
The best product managers are pragmatists.
They’re steeped in the theory of product management, but they know all that really matters is shipping the right product.
And they do whatever they can to make sure that happens.
What I've been reading 📚
Ten years ago Ian McAllister wrote an answer on Quora about the difference between the top 1% and top 10% of product managers. This month he published an updated version. What’s really interesting is how little it’s actually changed.
The difference between Key Results and KPIs isn’t as clear cut as we often want it to be. This article from Ian Harvey explains that the overlap isn’t actually a bad thing.
OKRs v KPIs - How they really work together — Outcomes Thinking
OKRs v KPIs - How they really work together — Outcomes Thinking
Dogma has crept in to the explanation of Key Results and KPIs. The reality is much simpler and more helpful. This brief article explains how OKRs and KPIs should coexist.
www.outcomesthinking.com
A lot of product management is about trying to predict the future. If we want to do it well, though, we need to learn to think exponentially.
How to Think Exponentially and Better Predict the Future
How to Think Exponentially and Better Predict the Future
This is the third in a four-part series looking at the big ideas in Ray Kurzweil’s book The Singularity Is Near. ​Be sure to read the other articles: Will the End of Moore’s Law Halt Computing’s Exponential Rise? Technology Feels Like It’s Accelerating — Because It Actually Is Ray Kurzweil Predicts Three Technologies Will Define Our Future […]
singularityhub.com
What I've been writing ✍️
Before you can ship the right product, you’ve got to have a clear idea of what you think the right product is. Here’s a thread of resources to help crystallise your product vision.
Toby Rogers 🚀🤘
Before you can define your product strategy, you need to crystallise your product vision.

Here are 9 resources to help every product manager describe the future they want for their product 🧵 ⬇️
Love them or hate them, as a product manager you’re going to have to deal with OKRs at some point. Here’s a thread of articles to make sure you deal with them the right way.
Toby Rogers 🚀🤘
As a product manager you'll need to learn about OKRs sooner or later.

Here are 9 resources to make it easier 🧵 ⬇️
That’s it! 
See you next week (probably). 
Toby 
The Punk PM 
P.S. Feel free to share this with anyone else you think would find it interesting.
I’m still playing around with ideas for content and format for this newsletter, so I’d love to hear your thoughts. Go ahead and shoot me an email with ways you think I can make it better.
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Toby Rogers
Toby Rogers @tobiasrogers

Product management musings from your favourite Punk PM

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