Thanks again for taking time out of your day to read the newsletter. It means so much. What’s next for TBM in 2023? I’ll have news on my new gig in a couple weeks (I’m very excited, it will be a big change of pace), but here are three things I will be focusing on this year:
Proud "weirdo" here. Excited about connecting in a community of other weirdos.
I've heard so much feedback that amounts to stop doing things in your list. Not valued for strategic thinking because people only see ability to pursue details. Asked to reduce messages to a couple bullet points that are then dismissed when people don't understand the conclusion. Once a coworker told me they hadn't realized what I was contributing until I'd left. I gravitate towards situations that are undefined and poorly understood, that need someone to wrangle complexity, diagnose disarray, and map a path forward. I excel at elements of product management that need insight and the application of principles. I don't do well in situations where a company has a system and is looking for someone who's good at carrying out a defined process or procedure. I find ideas coming out of non-product-management communities as or more useful than information circulating inside it.
The story of my working life since 1992 is described in your paragraph "People (me included) with this wiring seem to gravitate to glue roles, facilitator roles, and complexity unraveling roles. We're "not practical", "not normal", we "don't bring solutions" (we do, just not in typical ways), we "overcomplicate things" (we don't, we're more strategic and thoughtful), we "don't go through normal channels", and we're tough to put in a box."
I’d even suggest to go for “less (explicitly) actionable”. As you noted, context free advice is hard (impossible) or probably harmful (when read naively).
I really like you exploring the problems/mess. This gives so much insights! As well this is always _implicitly_ actionable, as understanding is always the first and biggest step.
I'm so glad you called out the weirdos. I'm in product ops at a small company, where product ops doesn't make the same kind of sense it makes in large organizations. I do some "normal" product ops things, but if I have to boil my role down to a single sentence, it's "helping the product teams do their best work in a sustainable way." That is, I do a lot of gluing, facilitating, and problem solving. When I'm doing a good job, I'm an invisible oracle that can be consulted for insight into risks and timelines and how the teams get work done.
It's hard to think about how to advance my career, particularly as my organization grows, because as you mentioned, most content in the space is geared towards the archetypal product manager. I think I'd enjoy a community or newsletter geared towards us weirdos.
I've been following you for years and you're always a great inspiration - I really don't want you to change a single thing!
"It depends" - indeed, any out-of-context advice is worthless and your posts give me food for thought to attack the messy problems in my space in the way appropriate for my context.
Keep it up...... I need your input to stay relevant in the industry 👍😉
The part about the "weirdos" resonated with we the most
I've been reading and consuming a lot about systems thinking, psychological safety, strategy, connecting the abstract with the concrete, team dynamics, those beautiful mess.
Many of your writing helps me positioned myself and realized that I'm not that messy and I'm not alone! Even the "mature" ones are still pretty messy.
More practical and actionable will help, but I think for me the most helpful format is example
Yes John! Fellow weirdo checking in. I don't even work in product management, I just love your writing. I tried to press a no-brainer product development proposal for about 18 months, that every stakeholder agreed was a no-brainer, but very confident, privileged people (leadership) kept ignoring me. Fuck that. I start a new project on Monday :)
Fellow weirdo reporting too. This and the 43/52 resonate insanely here, and it has sometimes (ok, often!) been quite the struggle to find the balance between what 'the world of work' expects from me in how to behave and contribute in a way that makes sense to me (and that I know will in part will contribute to the business).
I'm not a 'my way or the highway' person in my ideas and observations in the sense that I value my own view of reality or true over others, but I do KNOW we have to work more holistically, take a few steps back more often, and hear others out, build on their knowledge and experience, especially those who aren't heard as often (as they should be).
I love asking questions, questioning things. Not because I hate everything or because I think everything is wrong when I do question things, but because questioning things, even good things, just feels like the right way for me.
"Well, why don't you tell me how to do it then instead?!" is the defence often heard. And when I said that is for us to find out together, and that it also can be the thing we're already doing, it's seen as not contributing, disruptive.
Excited to check out what you’ll be serving up! The industry needs more “weird”—more room for thoughtful PMs and strong facilitators. I know you’ll be playing a big role in cultivating that in the coming months and years, and I know the industry will be better for it 🚀
Highly impactful actions for the complexity you tend to describe is very context dependent. Just looking at the two axis identified in the culture map (https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/) makes it clear that each situation described might have 4 different "good" solutions... based on human communication and management styles.
Let alone all the different aspects of market, company & product lifecycle.
If there's any actionable advice to give, then it's probably on how to facilitate group understanding of their context then on lone individual action. I've seen you follow that pattern multiple times and usually found those interesting. (Bias confirmed 😂)
As for 3, absolutely, i would love to meet more peers.... but also wondering if it would make sense to chat about this with both Cedric Chin (commoncog community) and maybe Simon Wardley (mapcamp community).
You seem to attract/target the same kinds of weirdos 😃
John I got confused there because it sounded like you were describing ME. I like your thoughts for the new year. I prefer long form stuff as my nutrition (protein analogy i guess ) with fat next ( medium length ) and finally just a sprinkling of Twitter style (carbs) for energy. I always liked that line from Fear and Loathing…
“One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”
Really appreciate the call-out of "weirdos" although might I be so bold as to say that my belief is that product management needs more of what you describe as weirdness (systems thinking, not staying in one's lane, etc.). If we are to think of PMs as leaders that run a business and not just a product, these are absolutely essential qualities to have and shouldn't be perceived as weird at all.
Whatever you write and record, I will watch and read it anyways! I like all the different aspects and topics you cover and I cannot thank you more for regularly writing for us.
I feel so seen! As one of those weirdos who has gotten a lot of value from all of your content I really look forward to hearing about whats next and participating if I can!
Proud "weirdo" here. Excited about connecting in a community of other weirdos.
I've heard so much feedback that amounts to stop doing things in your list. Not valued for strategic thinking because people only see ability to pursue details. Asked to reduce messages to a couple bullet points that are then dismissed when people don't understand the conclusion. Once a coworker told me they hadn't realized what I was contributing until I'd left. I gravitate towards situations that are undefined and poorly understood, that need someone to wrangle complexity, diagnose disarray, and map a path forward. I excel at elements of product management that need insight and the application of principles. I don't do well in situations where a company has a system and is looking for someone who's good at carrying out a defined process or procedure. I find ideas coming out of non-product-management communities as or more useful than information circulating inside it.
The story of my working life since 1992 is described in your paragraph "People (me included) with this wiring seem to gravitate to glue roles, facilitator roles, and complexity unraveling roles. We're "not practical", "not normal", we "don't bring solutions" (we do, just not in typical ways), we "overcomplicate things" (we don't, we're more strategic and thoughtful), we "don't go through normal channels", and we're tough to put in a box."
I’d even suggest to go for “less (explicitly) actionable”. As you noted, context free advice is hard (impossible) or probably harmful (when read naively).
I really like you exploring the problems/mess. This gives so much insights! As well this is always _implicitly_ actionable, as understanding is always the first and biggest step.
Where's the sense of adventure for those asking for just solutions? Go find them yourselves! that's the fun part! :D
I'm so glad you called out the weirdos. I'm in product ops at a small company, where product ops doesn't make the same kind of sense it makes in large organizations. I do some "normal" product ops things, but if I have to boil my role down to a single sentence, it's "helping the product teams do their best work in a sustainable way." That is, I do a lot of gluing, facilitating, and problem solving. When I'm doing a good job, I'm an invisible oracle that can be consulted for insight into risks and timelines and how the teams get work done.
It's hard to think about how to advance my career, particularly as my organization grows, because as you mentioned, most content in the space is geared towards the archetypal product manager. I think I'd enjoy a community or newsletter geared towards us weirdos.
Exactly - fuck that 😊
I've been following you for years and you're always a great inspiration - I really don't want you to change a single thing!
"It depends" - indeed, any out-of-context advice is worthless and your posts give me food for thought to attack the messy problems in my space in the way appropriate for my context.
Keep it up...... I need your input to stay relevant in the industry 👍😉
The part about the "weirdos" resonated with we the most
I've been reading and consuming a lot about systems thinking, psychological safety, strategy, connecting the abstract with the concrete, team dynamics, those beautiful mess.
Many of your writing helps me positioned myself and realized that I'm not that messy and I'm not alone! Even the "mature" ones are still pretty messy.
More practical and actionable will help, but I think for me the most helpful format is example
Weirdos Unite // For 2023 I say fuck that!
Yes John! Fellow weirdo checking in. I don't even work in product management, I just love your writing. I tried to press a no-brainer product development proposal for about 18 months, that every stakeholder agreed was a no-brainer, but very confident, privileged people (leadership) kept ignoring me. Fuck that. I start a new project on Monday :)
Fellow weirdo reporting too. This and the 43/52 resonate insanely here, and it has sometimes (ok, often!) been quite the struggle to find the balance between what 'the world of work' expects from me in how to behave and contribute in a way that makes sense to me (and that I know will in part will contribute to the business).
I'm not a 'my way or the highway' person in my ideas and observations in the sense that I value my own view of reality or true over others, but I do KNOW we have to work more holistically, take a few steps back more often, and hear others out, build on their knowledge and experience, especially those who aren't heard as often (as they should be).
I love asking questions, questioning things. Not because I hate everything or because I think everything is wrong when I do question things, but because questioning things, even good things, just feels like the right way for me.
"Well, why don't you tell me how to do it then instead?!" is the defence often heard. And when I said that is for us to find out together, and that it also can be the thing we're already doing, it's seen as not contributing, disruptive.
Here's to keeping 2023 weird.
Excited to check out what you’ll be serving up! The industry needs more “weird”—more room for thoughtful PMs and strong facilitators. I know you’ll be playing a big role in cultivating that in the coming months and years, and I know the industry will be better for it 🚀
Hej John,
It seems to me that 1 & 2 are (cor)related.
Highly impactful actions for the complexity you tend to describe is very context dependent. Just looking at the two axis identified in the culture map (https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/) makes it clear that each situation described might have 4 different "good" solutions... based on human communication and management styles.
Let alone all the different aspects of market, company & product lifecycle.
If there's any actionable advice to give, then it's probably on how to facilitate group understanding of their context then on lone individual action. I've seen you follow that pattern multiple times and usually found those interesting. (Bias confirmed 😂)
As for 3, absolutely, i would love to meet more peers.... but also wondering if it would make sense to chat about this with both Cedric Chin (commoncog community) and maybe Simon Wardley (mapcamp community).
You seem to attract/target the same kinds of weirdos 😃
John I got confused there because it sounded like you were describing ME. I like your thoughts for the new year. I prefer long form stuff as my nutrition (protein analogy i guess ) with fat next ( medium length ) and finally just a sprinkling of Twitter style (carbs) for energy. I always liked that line from Fear and Loathing…
“One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”
That is us. And we are proud weirdos!!
Really appreciate the call-out of "weirdos" although might I be so bold as to say that my belief is that product management needs more of what you describe as weirdness (systems thinking, not staying in one's lane, etc.). If we are to think of PMs as leaders that run a business and not just a product, these are absolutely essential qualities to have and shouldn't be perceived as weird at all.
Whatever you write and record, I will watch and read it anyways! I like all the different aspects and topics you cover and I cannot thank you more for regularly writing for us.
I feel so seen! As one of those weirdos who has gotten a lot of value from all of your content I really look forward to hearing about whats next and participating if I can!
Also don't forget there's an option 4. Assess things and take the action step of carrying on as is.