John Cutler writes the popular and beloved product newsletter The Beautiful Mess. For many years, he was a Product Evangelist at Amplitude, which led him to meeting and working with a large number of product teams around the world. Through this role, he gained unique insight into how the best product teams operate. In today’s episode, John reflects on leaving his role at Amplitude, and explains the attributes that the top 1% of product teams share. We also go deep into some of his favorite frameworks and discuss the best way to apply these frameworks to your work. We also unpack skills like product sense and product mindset, and what he’s planning in his new role at Toast.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-differentiates-the-highest-performing—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:• Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Where to find John Cutler:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/johncutlefish• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpcutler/• Newsletter: https://cutlefish.substack.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Referenced:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• The North Star Playbook: https://info.amplitude.com/north-star-playbook• Craig Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigmdaniel/• Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595• AppFolio: https://www.appfolio.com/• High Leverage Product Evangelism: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/high-leverage-product-evangelism• Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business: https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-Breaking-Invisible-Boundaries/dp/1610392507• Innovation Labs: https://innovationlabs.com/• BEES: https://mybeesapp.com/• Marty Cagan on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan#details• Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility: https://www.amazon.com/Sooner-Safer-Happier-Patterns-Antipatterns/dp/1942788916• Teresa Torres on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresatorres/• Andrew Huberman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab/?hl=en• TBM 49/52: Pyramid of Leadership Self/Other Awareness: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-4952-pyramid-of-leadership-selfother• ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/chat• How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business: https://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Business-ebook/dp/B00INUYS2U• Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations: https://www.amazon.com/Accelerate-Software-Performing-Technology-Organizations/dp/1942788339• User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product: https://www.amazon.com/User-Story-Mapping-Discover-Product/dp/B08TZGKKF2• Build with Maggie Crowley podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-with-maggie-crowley/id1445050691• One Knight in Product podcast: https://www.oneknightinproduct.com/index.html#page-top• Sunny Bunnies on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81286920• Booba on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81011059• Toast: https://pos.toasttab.com/• Drift: https://www.drift.com/John’s list of high-performing people worth following:• Dr. Cat Hicks (@grimalkina) https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcathicks/ • Stephanie Leue https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-leue/• Amy Edmondson (@AmyCEdmondson) https://www.linkedin.com/in/amedmondson/• Dominica DeGrandis (@dominicad) https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicadeg/• Courtney Kissler https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-kissler-0930681/• Christina Wodtke (@cwodtke) https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinawodtke/• Matthew Skelton https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewskelton/• Heidi Helfand (@heidihelfand): https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidihelfand/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) What is a product evangelist? John’s unique role at Amplitude(05:50) John’s reflections and feelings on leaving Amplitude(17:28) What John’s doing next(18:52) John’s newsletter: The Beautiful Mess(27:49) What do the top 1% of product teams have in common?(40:08) Different ways companies are successful, and why anyone can improve(45:55) Investing in people vs. investing in processes(48:49) The importance of culture and values(49:59) Global company cultures: the individualist vs. the collectivist  (55:55) Why it’s hard to make changes in large companies(58:49) How to view frameworks(1:01:02) The spectrum of performance in big and small companies(1:05:27) Examples of high-performing people who work outside of Silicon Valley(1:09:02) The skill of product management(1:11:35) The value of learning a bit about everything(1:13:46) Why do people often underestimate the loops available at their company(1:16:20) Chronic vs. acute issues at companies(1:18:07) Unpacking the skills behind product sense and product mindset(1:20:44) A place for people without the traditional meritocracy mindset(1:22:38) John’s writing process and what he plans on writing about next(1:27:52) How to use ChatGPT for learning and levity(1:31:56) Lightning Round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

John Cutler, a veteran product manager and consultant known for his insights in product management, joins the conversation to unravel the complexities of digital product design. He shares his unconventional journey from gaming to product management and discusses the unique challenges product leaders face. The discussion emphasizes the importance of collaboration among design, product, and engineering teams, and critiques the challenges of implementing agile transformations. Cutler highlights how design leaders can effectively advocate for their teams and navigate the disconnect with executive leadership.

John Cutler, best systems thinker discusses the misconceptions of efficiency and productivity, the challenges of scaling businesses, the complexity of knowledge and expertise, the importance of consistency, the influence of random rewards on habit formation, and tracking habits and behaviors in business.

In this discussion, John Cutler, a product management and UX research expert, shares insights on thriving in today's tech landscape. He tackles the impact of layoffs on trust and feedback, and whether workplaces truly support meritocracy or political maneuvering. John provides survival strategies such as navigating corporate politics, building alliances, and crafting compelling narratives. He also emphasizes the importance of authentic communication and storytelling in fostering collaboration, making it essential listening for those navigating complex workplace dynamics.

In this discussion with John Cutler, an expert in scaling collaborative product organizations, he tackles the challenges of growth in team structures. John emphasizes the necessity of a clear operating model to avoid pitfalls like misalignment and silos. He introduces the concept of 'scaffolding' for navigating change and highlights the importance of shared language among teams. Learn why investing in teams, products, and outcomes matters more than just focusing on projects. His insights offer valuable strategies for fostering collaboration and accountability in dynamic environments.

Exploring the challenges of strategy in the 'messy middle' with guest John Cutler. Topics include team alignment, defining solid strategies, and the importance of clear communication. Dive into strategic thinking, making informed decisions, and the impact of product management strategies on company success.

This week on the Product Love podcast, I sat down with John Cutler, self-proclaimed “product agitator” and, most recently, a first-time dad. John has worked in a variety of roles in product and consulted at top tier companies like Zendesk, Appfolio, and Pendo. John is one of the most active and prolific writers and thinkers, and if you don’t already, you should definitely follow him on Twitter.

If you’re active on Product Twitter, then you already know John Cutler.  It’s not just that he’s extremely prolific – it’s the quality and depth of his tweets (and his longer essays) that reach deep into the heart of what we’re struggling with on a daily basis – especially his post 12 Signs You’re working in [...] Read more »The post Podcast: How to get Your Team to do Their Best Work with John Cutler appeared first on Mind the Product.Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He’s the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon’s music stores in the US & UK.

John Cutler is the Head of Product Education at Amplitude. He is a product evangelist & coach, who has spent his career wrangling complex problems and answering the ‘why’ with quantitative data. He joins Melissa Perri on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast to talk about the importance of product education and getting in your product “reps”, and the types of product patterns he’s discovered after working across industries.  Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and John talk about in this episode: A product evangelist acts as the public face of a company and connects with the people who use its products in unique ways. Product evangelists bridge the gap of need for education advocacy, helping teams see the future direction that they're going in, and product therapy. [2:04] Product people tend to follow common patterns and principles when it comes to transformation approaches, but how they apply these principles can be different depending on the culture. [6:08] How to pivot to transform an organization must be tailored to the position the company is in. [9:23] Sometimes product people just need to empower their teams. However, there are often systems in place that prevent this. "If you go into an organization that isn't really aligned in a way to allow agency, where there is low confidence among the teams, a lot of dependencies between the teams, and maybe they don't have the way to see if what they're doing is working... no amount of empowerment will help," John tells Melissa. [11:40]  A lot of organizations have people at the head who have had experience in the digital and processing development department, but they have not worked on a team in modern ways of working. They can intellectualize it, John says, but they can't feel it in their bones. [15:11] Melissa talks about product people not being able to recognize product patterns and see how technology can completely change your product. They can't comprehend rethinking the way they approach product, or they don't consider platform approaches. "You can take the strategy of a different SAAS company from the product architecture and how they deliver value, and use the things that work in your company but just refine it and it's those types of things that I feel like are missing," Melissa says. [17:43] People who have been doing product for a while may underappreciate how many signals and tacit knowledge that have been acquired over the decades. Because of this, communicating with someone who hasn't had those signals can be frustrating. It's important to step back and think about how you learned what you learned when trying to teach other people. [21:25] John talks about some of the core strategies of product leadership. [26:18] Before teams decide to move on to strategy, they should do a simple linear regression and analyze the who, what, where, when, and why of their product. Then start layering complexities and uncertainties. John describes a system he's created called Mandate Levels. [30:31] Not everyone in the product world is fortunate to have job mobility, so organizations need to create an environment that gets outcomes going. [33:51] Sometimes product people believe they're empowering their teams but they're not being sensitive and empathetic to the lives of their employees. How a product manager shapes the mission is important because it can leave enough room for people to take risks. [40:15] Product managers must be clear and honest with themselves before they begin to implement change. They need to connect with their organizations and find the kernel of opportunity. [43:53] Resources John Cutler | LinkedIn | Twitter | Articles Amplitude John Cutler’s Product Org Expertise

Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they discuss product management with John Cutler, known for The Beautiful Mess newsletter. They cover topics such as the purpose of product management in driving growth, using the north star framework for alignment, importance of product roadmaps for communication, the role of leadership in product management, and the relevance of agile methodology. Listen for insights on becoming a more effective product manager.