The 4 things I am constantly thinking when leading a product org

And the product is not one of them

This is where my mind is 90% of the time when I’m leading a product org. And it’s not the product itself.

I’m constantly thinking about four things:

 1. 🎯 Execution, ie impact per unit of work

 2. 📢 Productivity, ie work per unit of time

 3. 🏗️ Scalability, ie capacity per person in the team

 4. 🥇 Quality, ie average reality vs expectation per unit of work

My team is my product. The product is their product. My teams' composition, performance and capabilities are my features. Getting these better is my roadmap. Their output is the result of delivering my roadmap.

When I’m thinking of 🎯 execution, I’m looking how each delivered unit of work moved the needle towards a person or teams’ OKR or KPIs. This includes prioritisation, approach to problem and solution spaces and stakeholder relationships.

When I’m thinking of 📢 productivity, I’m looking at how much the team was able to deliver in X amount of time given all constraints. When I compare with moving averages, it highlights blockers, people performance, and team dynamic issues.

When I’m thinking of 🏗️ scalability, I’m looking at individual capacity (how much can you handle) and growth rate of this capacity. This includes expanding responsibilities, complexity within the problem space and scope within the solution space.

When I’m thinking of 🥇quality, I’m looking at the depth and width of an individual’s choices when building something, handling an issue or managing a relationship. I compare expectation and reality to see where gaps form. I am also updating my own expectation of quality.

90% of my day-to.day is answering the question “What can I do to improve these areas across individuals and teams?”