The Two Types of Product Teams

There are two types of product teams - the slow-learning and the fast-learning.

The slow-learning team wants to deliver. They manage projects, write tickets, attend internal meetings and ask colleagues for design feedback. They mostly care about delivery and managing expectations.

The fast-learning team wants to learn. They talk to customers, read market news, push hacky code to production, and sometimes break things. They embrace ambiguity, but they learn fast.

The difference? The slow-learning team builds products for their bosses, and the fast-learning team builds products customers actually need.

Shift your focus. The best products come from deep insight, not just efficient delivery.

It’s Tuesday - sprint day, yay! I mixed things up a bit this time and here’s how it went:

• 2km warm-up
• 400m x 3
• 200m x 3
• 100m x 3

• 2km warm-up
• 1km @ 5:00 pace x 6, with 2 min rest in between

Framing is Everything

Recently I wrote about the most important skill for Product Managers.

Regardless of whether you are a Product Manager or not, the communication will help you with all aspects of your career. If you want to manage or be a leader, you have to be a good communicator. Specifically, you need to get better at framing.

What’s your goal? Are you looking for feedback, sharing information, wanting to influence, asking for approval or something else entirely?

What are you sharing? Is it a problem? Maybe a solution? A vision? Or a mix?

How much detail are you planning to share? Is this a helicopter or detailed view? Or perhapse, both?

Who’s your audience? Your team, the entire organisation or the executive group?

Your communication needs to be adjusted depending on the answers.

Early in your career, you use the same message no matter the context.

To grow, you need to get better at tailoring your message - what you say, how you say it and when to say it.

Sometimes I walk past the Sydney General Post Office - it's a cool spot right in the centre of Sydney.

Underneath it, there’s this whole network of tunnels and basements (not sure if the public has access to it). Back in the day, they were used for postal operations and deliveries.

These days, though, it’s now there: the Fullerton Hotel Sydney, shops and restaurants.

The Cost of Indecision

Misaligned leadership hurts teams. It's unintentional though. But still when leaders can’t align or make the call ("disagree and commit"), their teams suffer. The damage is often invisible to leadership but felt deeply by those executing.

It’s not disagreement that breaks teams. It’s hesitation.

Make the fucking decision!

Caught the UFC at on of the pubs in Manly. I was supporting the Russian fighters, Umar and Islam. Absolute machines. They’re incredible athletes, sharp and relentless.

Watching with my mate, we couldn’t get over how insanely well they understand movement—both their own and their opponent’s. Every single move is calculated and lethal.

Me in the cage? I wouldn’t last 10 seconds.

Trust breaks when promises break

Trust breaks when promises break. People notice, even in silence and they remember. Honour commitments - trust depends on it.

Sydney tonight ❤️

One of my posts on LinkedIn went viral'ish. It wasn’t exactly groundbreaking or full of deep insights.

But it’s certainly a topic that has two completely opposite camps and no one in between.

I’ve written better and more helpful content (at least in my opinion), but LinkedIn’s algorithm doesn’t promote it because it doesn’t drive engagement.

That’s why I don’t like algorithms. Instead of promoting good content, they push controversial or clickbaity posts that spark engagement.

Thoughtful and insightful content stays invisible.

Empowering Without Overdirecting

This afternoon I spoke with the team about the challenges for any leader and their team in finding the balance between telling them what/how to do (Directive Leadership) and letting the team figure it out themselves, make some mistakes and learn (Empowering Leadership).

The balance is hard.

You definitely wouldn't want to over-index on either side. So you’ve got to find a sweet spot.

But it also could be multidimensional, and the balance might shift depending on the area.

For example, you might want to give more direction in terms of the problem the team is solving compared to how the problem is solved. Or you might want to give less direction in the team's communication style but more direction in terms of the standards of produced work.

Regardless, it might be helpful to be open about that balance and have a regular conversation about it.

Because that balance isn't static either. As the team gets better and better, it requires you to adjust the balance.

Hack Constraints

When your team isn’t experimenting enough, it's most likely due to experiments taking too long to build, track and measure.

But every missed experiment is a missed opportunity. Insights go untapped. Ideas remain untested. Innovation stalls.

If the bottleneck is tech, hack it. Find workarounds even at the cost of degrading user experience but push forward.

Constraints spark the best solutions.

I took a leg rest day yesterday and today I felt so much better. My legs were much fresher than they were on Tuesday and felt pretty good, especially considering it was hills training today.

Ran 9km with a total of 300m elevation. I couldn’t run all the hills and had to walk about half of them, but I’ll keep pushing!

No Plan, No Progress

Fixing something messy is hard. Starting over is easier but starting from scratch doesn't always work.

If want to make real progress, get a plan done. Make sure you know the problem you’re solving, what you want to change and how long you’ll give yourself. When you’re clear about the why, tough choices are easier. A decent plan keeps you on track, even when shit hits the fan.

No plan. No focus.

Let It Marinate

When I'm trying to solve a problem and my brain starts running around in circles like a headless chicken, I like to smash the "I'm going to bed to let it marinate" button.

At that point, there's no way to push my stubborn brain to explore other ideas. The brain is tired and moody.

Stepping away is progress because you trust your brain to do its thing while you sleep. Don't do this during the day, though; your colleagues won't appreciate it.

I know when I wake up, I'll have a dozen (okay, maybe a couple) fresh angles and new ways to tackle the problem. Magic!

Tough run today. I planned for 7km plus sprints but ended up with just 5km. Everything was sore - feet, calves, hammies, glutes. My energy was low too. It was hot. It was a slog. It wasn’t pretty.

But that’s alright. The main thing is showing up and doing the best I can on the day.

I’ll give my legs a rest tomorrow, then on Thursday, I’ll do some easy hill running/walking. I won’t push it too hard—just easing into the hills.

123 days until UTA50 in the Blue Mountains.

Tough Love, Strong Teams

Currently refreshing my memory on Radical Candor by Kim Scott. These quotes are amazing:

The best way to keep superstars happy is to challenge them and make sure they are constantly learning.

As you probably know, for every piece of subpar work you accept, for every missed deadline you let slip, you begin to feel resentment and then anger. You no longer just think the work is bad: you think the person is bad. This makes it harder to have an even-keeled conversation. You start to avoid talking to the person at all.

Trust Over Control

Most people think leadership is about control. They assume great leaders are the ones who tell people what to do, make all the calls and keep everyone in line.

That’s outdated thinking.

The best leaders don’t control. They share context & intent, inspire, empower and trust their teams to make mistakes.

Control stifles. Trust unleashes potential.

Leg day this morning:

• Started with a 1km easy run to warm up
• The leg extensions and leg curls on the machines.
• Lunges, with 2x12kg kettlebells, 40mx2
• Burpee broad jumps, 60m
• Wall balls, 10kg x 30

Impact Over Firefighting

Bad leaders like convenience over value.

They push those who make their lives easier - small tasks, fire drills and ego bosts. Problem solvers, whose work eliminates chaos, go unnoticed because their success erases the memory of the problem itself.

Leaders fear losing their “firefighters” more than those who ensure a fire never starts. The latter rarely gets rewarded.

The title "Product Owner" shouldn't exist

Product Managers own the full lifecycle - strategy, discovery and delivery. Product Owners focus narrowly on Agile delivery. Splitting these roles fragments accountability and muddies product development.

True impact comes from roles with full ownership.