More Than Just ICE

Feature prioritisation isn't always about frameworks like ICE (Impact, Confidence, Effort), Kano or MoSCoW.

Sometimes, it's about building momentum - creating buzz, lifting your team's morale, staying ahead of competitors or even strengthening internal relationships.

The challenge is finding the balance between chasing these quick wins and staying true to your long-term vision.

Shared Slipups

Mistakes teach faster than manuals. But only if they're visible. And shared before they sit quietly and start to build up.

When a leader owns a mistake in front of their team, something powerful happens. The room relaxes. People stop pretending everything is perfect. They stop tiptoeing. It sends a message that trying, failing and learning is part of the job - not a threat to it.

Most teams don't freeze from lack of skill. They freeze from fear. Fear of saying the wrong thing. Fear of trying something new. Fear of being the only one who didn't get it right. But when a leader steps up and says, “Here's what I got wrong, here's what I learned and here's what I'm changing,” that fear starts to fade.

Because the next time something goes sideways, there's no hiding. You've already shown how it's done - how to take ownership, how to bounce back.

But don't overdo it. This isn't about dumping your insecurities on your team or confessing every minor wobble. It's not a therapy session. Oversharing makes people uneasy.

So keep it simple. Share what's useful. Wrap it in action. Frame the mistake as a lesson, not a spiral. Make it clear you're learning faster than before - and pulling the team forward with you.

Seth Godin & Lenny

Branding: A Promise Kept Every Time
A brand isn't a logo. It's a promise. In a crowded AI market, success isn't about having AI - it's about solving problems. Loyalty comes from defining a clear promise and keeping it. Trust, not flash, is what users remember.
Empathy Drives Great Products
Empathy means understanding users deeply. Products fail when they expect people to “figure it out.” Simplicity should guide every design decision. Make every i... read more

How to Craft a Strategy Narrative That Inspires Action

A powerful strategic narrative creates clarity, not complexity.

If you're a business leader, team lead or strategist looking to align and motivate people around a clear direction, the posts you've shared offer a goldmine of principles that support and extend the Strategic Narrative Tool (from Strategy Needs Good Words). That framework asks teams to define who they are, where they're going and why it matters - then communicate it in a way that inspires action. Here's how your writing already lives that out:

Start with decisions, not slogans. Your offsite advice is sharper than most strategy decks:

“What will we say no to? What will we fund? What changes Monday morning?”

That's not theory. That's a story people can follow. Strategic narrative works when it starts with choices.

“What's praised. What's punished. Used in hiring. Reinforced in feedback. Lived under pressure.”

Strategic narratives lose power when values sound good but mean nothing. You show how to anchor them in action.

“They think one deck, one all-hands, one strategy doc is enough.”

But repetition builds rhythm. A good narrative becomes the background music of the company.

“Don't confuse a plan with a strategy. Don't confuse activity with progress.”

Strategic narratives should simplify the noise, not add to it. You deliver that.

Think Like a Farmer

I can't recall where I found this picture, but it's such an interesting analogy. Leadership is like farming - nurture the right conditions and growth will follow.

That said, sometimes you end up with the wrong crops or weeds mistaken for crops and it's just as important to weed those out.

Takeaways: How a great founder becomes a great CEO

Key takeaways from Lenny's podcast: "How a great founder becomes a great CEO | Jonathan Lowenhar"
Most founders struggle to make this distinction. The instincts and drive that help you launch a business aren't enough to scale it. That's why the best leaders lean into building the craft of being a CEO.
Here's what I learned about how founders can do just that:
Trust your intuition - but only when it's quiet.That “quiet voice” inside you often know... read more

The Most Important Skill for Product Managers

As my product management career has progressed, my perspective on the most important skill has changed. Early on, I thought it was all about speed - getting things done fast. Later, I believed strategy was the ultimate priority. But now, I'm increasingly convinced that the most important skill for a PM is clarity - and the key to achieving clarity is strong communication.
It doesn't matter how brilliant your product strategy is or how strong your... read more

Takeaways: Identify your bullseye customer in one day

Key takeaways from Lenny's podcast: "Identify your bullseye customer in one day | Michael Margolis"
That's the promise of the Bullseye Customer Sprint, a framework shared by Michael Margolis (UX Research Partner at GV). It's all about focusing on the right customer at the start of your journey - avoiding wasted effort and accelerating clarity for your team.
Instead of chasing broad customer profiles, Margolis advises narrowing down to a small, sp... read more

Culture is shaped by the people within it. Sometimes, one person is all it takes to spark positive change.

An employee who offers genuine encouragement, lends a hand to solve a problem or suggests small but meaningful improvements can transform a team's energy - one action at a time.

This is the quiet yet powerful force of influence.

Amplify their voices.
Support them.
Elevate them.

Let their impact ripple further.

Silos.

Break them whenever you see them.

Silos keep teams from seeing the whole market picture.

Silos risk losing sight of the customer, prioritising internal goals and creating a fragmented experience.

Silos slow everything down - teams hold onto information, delaying solutions.

Silos leave teams blind to risks outside their scope.

Expertise vs open-mindedness.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone's perspective is genuinely the best approach or if they're just anchored in familiar thinking. What if they don't even know what “awesome” could look like?

On the other hand, knowing when to hold your ground versus when to let things go can be even trickier. What if I don't know what “awesome” feels like and am just comfortable with my usual approach?

Define who's making the call before a debate starts.

That person takes in everyone's input but in the end they own the final decision.

It cuts down on endless debates and helps the team align around a single direction - even if not everyone agrees at first.

A short post about unstoppable teams.

Weathering the Torpedoes

All teams will face this moment sooner or later.

Torpedoes hit and chaos erupts. This feels like the end.

You see those who freeze and are lost in analysis or despair. Others grab buckets, extinguish fires and patch the holes. Those who can't handle the shitstorm often leave or, worse, switch off - but the team that stays learns.

Each crisis builds resilience and over time, the screams fade, the paralysis lessens and the team grows steady.

One day, the torpedo hits again but nobody panics. Everyone acts, shoulders the load and trusts each other to hold the line.

That's the moment you know your team is unstoppable.

Lead with Problems, Not Solutions

Protecting Discovery: A Playbook for Product Managers

Why Rushing to Solutions Backfires

• Solution-first thinking kills curiosity. The instant you pitch a fix, the room defaults to critique rather than exploration.
• Creativity needs slack. When discovery is compressed, edge cases, fresh perspectives, and customer nuance vanish.
• Ownership drives quality. Teams fight for ideas they helped shape; they resist ideas handed down.

Common Scenarios Where Discovery Gets Short-Circuited

The Discovery-First Framework

• Clarify the friction: user pain, market gap, or workflow snag.
• Share constraints: budget, timeline, regulatory, tech stack.
• State the desired outcome: measurable impact or customer behaviour change.

• Use open prompts:
• “Where does this break for users?”
• “What edge cases worry you?”
• Embrace silence - ideas bloom in the gap.
• Capture themes, not verdicts.

• Engineers for feasibility checks.
• Designers for journey mapping.
• Sales/Support for frontline insights.
• Reference models like Atlassian's Team Playbook “Discovery Play” for facilitation.

• Draft thin-slice prototypes or assumption tests.
• Prioritise by risk vs. learning value.
• Track outcomes in a shared dashboard (e.g. Productboard, Jira).

• Keep goals visible: OKRs, North-Star metric.
• Let the team iterate on execution details.
• Step in only to re-align on purpose, not on pixel placement.

Quick Reference: Discovery-Boosting Questions

• “What's the riskiest assumption here?”
• “If we had unlimited time, what would we explore first?”
• “How might a power user break this?”
• “Which customer quote captures the pain best?”

Agile Isn’t Chaos

Agility is misunderstood. True agility adapts to change without succumbing to chaos. It's never about rushing decisions.

The best teams balance flexibility and structure. Agility thrives on collaboration, iterative progress and responsiveness - anchored by clear direction. Without this balance, chaos replaces speed and quality falls victim to a mirage of progress.

Agile isn't a strategy. It's how strategies breathe.

Agile vs Strategy

Using no-reply emails puts up a barrier and can leave customers feeling ignored.

Instead, businesses should use email addresses that invite replies and ensure responses. It's a simple way to build stronger relationships and gather valuable feedback.

Leadership Is the Ceiling

If your team isn't performing at its best, it may not be a talent problem - it might be a leadership ceiling.
“Why isn't my high-performing team delivering?”“How do I unlock my team's full potential?”“What's causing low team morale or execution delays?”“How to lead when your team is stuck or confused?”“What makes a great product leader?”
No matter how skilled your people are, they can only move as fast and as clearly as you lead th... read more

Clear Role Boundaries for Product Teams

TL;DR

1. Draw the Line Early

• Core focus: market and viability risk
• Typical questions: “Will people pay for this?” “Does it move the North-Star metric?”
• Key output: one-pager covering purpose, success metrics and trade-offs

• Core focus: usability and desirability risk
• Typical questions: “Can customers complete the task?” “Where do they stumble?”
• Key output: clickable prototype showing flow, copy and edge states

2. Guard the Calendars

• If the task changes product vision, it belongs to the PM.
• If the task changes product surface, it belongs to the PD.

3. Write First, Talk Second

• PM posts a succinct one-pager to Slack outlining problem statement, success measures and known constraints.
• PD replies with a Figma link showing interactive flow, micro-copy and empty-state behaviour.
• Only then schedule a 30-minute debate. Decisions lock in, iteration time halves.

4. Phase-Based Volume Control

• Framing / Discovery – PM's voice dominates; market-sizing memo appears.
• Ideation & Prototyping – PD leads; high-fidelity Figma frames drop.
• Build & Polish – PD still loudest; design-system tokens freeze.
• Launch & Iterate – PM turns the volume back up; KPI dashboard lights up.

5. Share One Scorecard

6. Outcomes You Can Expect

• 25–40 % faster time-to-decision (anecdotal data from five Aussie SaaS teams).
• Higher designer morale: fewer context switches, deeper craft.
• Sharper product bets: PMs stay market-obsessed, avoiding “feature museum” creep.

Recommended Tools & Rituals

• Figma for rapid prototypes (PD).
• Miro/FigJam for story mapping (shared).
• Amplitude or Mixpanel for the single metric (PM).
• Weekly 15-minute “Line-Check” stand-up: confirm who owns which decisions this sprint.

Scaling Skills in Small Teams

Working at a small tech business shapes your career differently.

You'll juggle strategy, customer service, product development and beyond. The small team demands versatility, immersing you in every aspect of the business. This hands-on experience accelerates learning and builds skills quicker than larger organisations ever could.

For ambitious minds craving growth and variety, nothing compares.