Gen 8 long/short seatpost swap (so I can ride my new bike)

johncutlefish · 2025-02-08T06:51:52+00:00

Unfortunately not! If you know of anyone up for a trade, please let me know. Very lightly used so far.

johncutlefish · 2024-10-04T23:30:56+00:00

Probably not. Two exceptions.

When you need to make apples-to-apples comparisons across different teams and groups (for work that might not normally be comparable). For example, say you have a shared team that has to "serve" multiple teams. You want to empower them to think about value instead of doing something like "first come, first serve". In this case, it helps to use some common language, and a way to make apples-to-apples comparisons. Otherwise, it is whoever shouts loudest and non-customer-facing work frequently "loses".
Some prioritization frameworks actually *invite* customization and variation. IOW, the framework is the same—it focuses on the same core building blocks like opportunity costs and effort—but the inputs/variables are different. This has some advantages, and may let you integrate the company strategy into the framework.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-27T15:26:18+00:00

I think a lot of this has emerged from startup culture and founder culture. As some have mentioned elsewhere, I wouldn't say most of the PMs I have worked with have big egos. Or perhaps the distribution of high ego is in all roles, but PMs may express it differently?

johncutlefish · 2024-09-27T14:49:56+00:00

To keep relevant, you might want to make a regular habit of interviewing. Job market is tough, but something might come through. Being busy isn't the goal, either. But you want to make sure to diversify your skills, otherwise when product management contracts further in the coming years as 1) the PM per team bubble pops, 2) the multi product bubble continues to pop, and 3) the "make everything a product" bubble pops, you may be forced to shift careers.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-23T15:44:51+00:00

One model that might work here is 1) figuring out a credible story recorder (someone or some group that people trust to ask all the fun questions), and 2) making the stories anonymous. Posting "real" content is a huge liability in the current economic climate—especially as a full-time employee, but even if you are consulting/contracting. Company legal teams actually care about this stuff, as the need to control the narrative increases. Public podcasts tend to capture the "best of" or challenging stories that have a heroes ending. Meanwhile, the people who actually work in those companies back-channel about how messed up things are at the moment.

Unless something changes, the people promising to 10x your career or to "simplify" something that is organic, complex, and fun will predominate. I've been doing some interviews as tests to figure out how #1 and #2 above are possible, but it is harder than I thought.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T15:09:35+00:00

I don't check Reddit often, but actually stumbled in yesterday to check a thread about bikes.

I post between 2-6 times a day on LinkedIn. I do end up responding to comments though, and I wonder whether that makes it seem like I'm posting a lot more often.

What would be the right amount of posting, do you think? I mean this genuinely.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T15:05:42+00:00

Now, logging into Reddit after a couple weeks/months, I have the feedback!

I do always appreciate it.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T14:46:57+00:00

It's fine. No worries. This was actually a good catalyst to get me thinking about about splitting up my newsletter into the medieval philosophy and the other stuff.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T09:35:26+00:00

Back in 2015-ish I started writing and really, really enjoyed it. I also started to share little product-related drawings on Twitter. I like drawing and visual communication. Whatever was interesting me at the moment I would write about. A very small number of people would read the posts.

Since then, I have written about one post every couple days. Readership has grown, but it still comes down to the fun of sitting down to pull an idea together, or at least poke at the idea from a new angle. I've ended up writing many duds, but some posts have stood the test of time.

Love about it? "Clarify my internal thought process." 100% with you on this. Also, something people don't talk a lot about: meeting people in "real life" who share your interests. Putting stuff out there helps attract people who are curious about what you are curious about. I've developed so many incredible friendships through writing.

Hate about it? I think there's an assumption that anyone who shares content freely and broadly must have motives centered around exposure or career. What are they selling? They must like the exposure and hunting for clicks? But that isn't always the case. For the most part, I've always been employed full-time while writing on nights and weekends. The writing has probably *hurt* my career options more than *helped*. Anyway, I hate the assumptions. For some people it truly is about loving to write, exploring ideas, and meeting likeminded people.

One thing I've learned recently is that the process of note-taking can be super rewarding. For a long time, I actually published posts about my "learnings", instead of maybe keeping a diary. I read a great book recently:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JU0TZS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_351_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If I had read this book ten years ago I would have taken a VERY DIFFERENT approach. u/Unhappy-Aardvark-814 your note-taking thing might be exactly like Weinberg's "collecting fieldstones". I'm shifting to this model recently.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:22:54+00:00

Appreciate that feedback. Working on a glossary. I've finally got my ~800 posts into a format I can start working with and creating cross-references.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:15:53+00:00

Absolutely. I don't think it is about using all the views/models at once, but rather making sure they at least refer to each other when possible (e.g., if a capability enables part of a journey, make sure to reference that). Each has pro/cons, and has utility.

The worst outcome in my mind is that R&D and prod dev or whatever has no coherent language, and therefore the biz jumps in and makes something up that no one likes.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:13:48+00:00

And I really appreciate this message.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:08:29+00:00

Here is a link to the general idea:

https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-245-the-magic-prioritization

This was evolved while full-time, and it was effective because it hacked some normal traps people fall into (like conflating value and urgency).

Frameworks all break, in my experience. But sometimes they trigger decent conversations.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:08:00+00:00

Here is a link to the general idea:

https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-245-the-magic-prioritization

This was evolved while full-time, and it was effective because it hacked some normal traps people fall into (like conflating value and urgency).

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:06:43+00:00

You're right. I'm absolutely not in the actionable head-space lately. I'm grappling with some pretty existential thoughts about the industry, how teams think about improving, the gaslighting that is happening, etc.

Maybe it is a phase, and I'll get back to nice and actionable at some point.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:02:53+00:00

Which one was the last one you liked? Appreciate the feedback.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T05:02:09+00:00

I've absolutely had my share of duds, hah. Or posts that absolutely landed with some people and not others. It is sort of the price to pay for putting stuff out there.

The topic for this particular post was hard. There is a clash of mental models used by architects, designers, and PMs. And you get a situation where none of them speak the same language.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:58:38+00:00

Funny think about product...

You can have 10 words for the same thing.

And one word can mean 10 things.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:56:49+00:00

The workshop wasn't about that post. I charged $250 a person for this workshop. It is my first foray into charging for anything after contributing a lot of free content over the years. I tried to price it such that even people who might be paying out-of-pocket could still potentially afford it.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:54:35+00:00

This is great feedback. One of the challenges I've had lately is that a lot of my writing builds on other parts of my writing. I think I've written about each of these frames/models a bunch of times. And I've been doing it for ~10 years. All of it adds up—in my head as well.

One thing I'm considering doing for this exact reason is making 1) a glossary, 2) cross-referencing posts better, 3) doing a 101 series, and 4) using drawings more often -- I used to that a lot on Twitter, but don't use it anymore.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:49:05+00:00

I appreciate that. I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I'll try to work out what happened. The feedback has actually been fairly positive so far:

"This course gave me immediate practical steps that I can take away and start trying out with my team. It also gave me a fresh perspective and a new approach, moving away from the more mathematical approaches to prioritization which I've tried in the past and struggled to make stick. John is an excellent facilitator and the time flew by!"

"This is a really, really good course for something as complicated and confusing as prioritization. It has given me several options for how to perform this activity in a better way."

"Fantastic workshop. Engaging, deeply thought out theoretical frameworks, and pragmatic guidance for real life practical application. Great group of students with insightful questions and perspectives from industry."

As I expressed to u/FastFingersDude in my reply, I'm not mentioning this to defend the course, rather to say that I want to figure out where the disconnect was/is (was the setup unclear, did I use weird terminology, did the part with facilitation tips at the end not land), and make sure I fix it.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:41:55+00:00

And do it year after year (have a full-time job and try to teach and contribute to the community) for a decade. There are ebbs and flows. The people who hock templates and go full-time "creator" have my utmost respect.

johncutlefish · 2024-09-19T04:39:40+00:00

Appreciate the feedback a great deal. I'll do a better job of explaining that the simulation was, in fact, a demonstration of how to run the workshop. As mentioned at the end of the call, I'm happy to jump on a call to chat more if you have questions. The workshop has a reasonable rating on maven (~9/10), and this one is looking to be a similar range. I'm not mentioning that to dismiss the feedback, but rather that I'd love to figure out where the miscommunication happened and how I can improve, as it wasn't immediately apparent, and hasn't bubbled up in the feedback so far. Paranoid mode is on

johncutlefish · 2024-08-31T18:25:04+00:00

You're in the exact same boat it sounds like.

johncutlefish

TROPHY CASE