Archive - The Beautiful Mess

TBM 344: Context, Possibility, Intent, and Action

This post describes some core principles for designing the right mix of rituals, artifacts, frameworks, and cycles for your team or organization.

Mar 4 •

February 2025

TBM 343: "We Kind of Suck at That Right Now"

Wow, we kind of suck at that right now," I said. To me, that didn't seem controversial. I believed in the team. I was sure we could improve if we needed…

Feb 26 •

TBM 342: Who Pays the Ego Toll?

Most teams are surrounded by objectively easy, low-hanging ways to improve but often do nothing. Why? Even low-hanging fruit requires someone to take…

Feb 21 •

TBM 341: 10 Tips for Turning Around a Platform Team

Platform teams are tough work. The idea sounds great, but the day-to-day is hard. Someone recently reached out for advice with this common scenario. If…

Feb 16 •

TBM 340: Path to $

A quick post on different team types and how that influences the ROI discussion.

Feb 13 •

TBM 339: Update and Clarifications

I've been getting a lot of questions about Dotwork, my relationship with the company, and how it relates to my newsletter.

Feb 9 •

TBM 338: 4 Core Product OS Design Competencies

As a follow-up to TBM 336: Product OS Design Tips and Principles, I want to address a question that came up from a TBM paid subscriber:

Feb 4 •

TBM 337: Pirates and Garbage Cans

Why do problems fester for so long in companies? Why can it take so long for teams, managers, and leaders to work out their shit, by which point you…

Feb 2 •

January 2025

TBM 336: Product OS Design Tips and Principles

Lately, I've been spending more time talking with product leaders about exactly how they operate.

Jan 26 •

TBM 335: "Simple" Dependency Coordination

A lot of teams approach dependencies like this:

Jan 22 •

TBM 334: The Capacity Allocation Illusion

One of the big challenges of offering a customizable tool in the product space is that you risk reinforcing unhelpful practices.

Jan 19 •

TBM 333: Lean Graph Theory

If you've followed my work over the years, you know that I frequently mention ideas from Lean, such as limiting work in progress, continuous…

Jan 14 •

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