The Main Thing: Should we bring back apprenticeships?

As the move towards more cross-functional teams continues there is one big challenge: how do junior people upskill to become valuable contributors on a team?

In functional silos, the junior people often work beside and with senior functional experts. This helps with upskilling and development. But what if people are dispersed around in cross-functional teams?

We often think about product development roles requiring extensive education, and that is true, but people also require practical experience to become proficient. Many other trades adopt an apprenticeship model where people learn by doing. Is it time that we adopt a similar model for product development?

This Weeks Updates

Enabling the Team

3 Types of Overthinking - and How to Overcome Them by Melody Wilding
There are three different types of overthinking: rumination, future tripping, and overanalyzing. IMelody shares how to spot and handle each of the three types.

How to Become a More Empathetic Listener by Jamil Zaki
Using questions and active listening you can boost mutual understanding, improve relationships, and discover common ground.

Product Direction

Break Outcomes Down, Not Initiatives by Ant Murphy
Ant shares some tactics for breaking down complex initiatives into more manageable outcome pieces.

AI Product Management by Marty Cagan and Marily Nika
Marty weighs in on the AI debate in product management with a focus on the four key product risks.

Continuous Discovery

ACV Laddering: Get Answers Beyond “It’s Fine” by Nikki Anderson-Stanier
The ACV laddering technique uncovers core values by breaking down the means-end-chain theory into attributes, consequences, & values.

Setting Up Your UX Mentorship Program For Success by Kathryn Brookshier
Concrete advice and a free goal-setting template that will help you make your mentorship program vision a reality.

Continuous Design

On Design Engineering: I Think I Might Be A Design Engineer by Trys Mudford
Trys takes a deep look at design engineering, how it solves the design - engineering gap and why he thinks it's a great fit for him.

Framing Effect: Why Context Affects Decisions by Growth Design
Learn what the Framing Effect is and how to apply it to improve user experience without relying on unethical dark patterns.

Continuous Delivery

How To Apply The TDD Mindset To Serverless by Yan Cui
Write e2e tests for your API before you think about the Lambda functions behind those API endpoints and use the tests to identify problems with the API design.

The Serverless Illusion by Gregor Hohpe
Serverless reduces your need for (readily available) operations people but increases your need for (scarce) distributed system design skills.

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Autumn 2024 Call for Participation is Open

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New Video Released This Week

This panel will discuss the challenges and strategies for successful digital transformation, addressing high failure rates and emphasising alignment with organisational goals, leadership and customer-centric approaches. This panel is crucial for anyone interested in effectively navigating digital change. 👇👇

Job of the Week

Principal Product Manager for Customer Identity & Security
🏬 Toast
📌 Dublin, Ireland

About Toast
Toast, Inc. is a cloud-based restaurant software provider based in Boston, offering solutions like point of sale systems, digital ordering, and customer engagement tools to streamline restaurant operations and enhance customer service.

See role details here

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question was: What is the root cause of process failure in your company?

Well, it looks like there are lots of reasons why processes fail in different companies.

Fortunately, people don't see complexity as an issue: process can usually be adopted but unless it has been communicated properly and people have adequate training it is unlikely to succeed.

While insufficient buy in only came in in third place I think this is a huge blocker for many companies as well. As the saying goes "People love change, but they hate being changed".