John Cutler

2 weeks ago | cutlefish.substack.com | John Cutler

I admit it. I’m a process person, in that I’ve intentionally designed processes throughout my career. Some of those have been baked into external products, and others have been internal. Reflecting on my career, I remember many situations where I implemented bad processes. Most of the time, this was due to a lack of experience or contextual awareness. One situation early on stands out. I was creating a template for a team. I did a lot of research and dutifully added different sections and instructions.

3 weeks ago | cutlefish.substack.com | John Cutler

This post begun with a quick thought shared on LinkedIn (200+ comments):No one gets fired for recommending "Transformed"What is a book you could share internally that could get you fired? If you have a moment, I’d love you to chime in!Transformed by Marty Cagan, Lea Hickman, Chris Jones, Christian Idiodi, and John Moore has been a big part of day-to-day lately. This may have seemed like a critique, but it wasn’t at all. Let me explain.

4 weeks ago | cutlefish.substack.com | John Cutler

Ah the weekend! Time for some introspection…I am continuously fascinated by how people think about problems and improvement in their companies. This fascination applies internally as well. I've noticed how my perspectives have changed over the years—sometimes without me noticing, and often with some internal rationalization where I justify my past views. While some perspectives are definitely "wrong" in context, you can usually identify strengths and weaknesses in all of them.

4 weeks ago | cutlefish.substack.com | John Cutler

For some context, I’m back in the product management game as Head of Product at Dotwork. Apologies for the delay in posting — it can be hard to juggle the day job and writing! We’re definitely in the controlled chaos stage as we onboard new customers. A simple post for this week. I’m constantly reminded of how product teams don’t function like widget factories.

1 month ago | cutlefish.substack.com | John Cutler

Some % of product leaders and product managers could care less about how their company works. If something gets in their way, they care—they'll have no shortage of critique and ideas—but once the immediate problem disappears, they'll return to doing their thing. This is a feature, not a bug, even at a leadership level. I'll always remember a great VP of Product telling me:Look, I could care less about annual planning. All I want is my number because the rest will change.