Many writers think they need to make a specific piece “perfect” before they can publish it. I do agree that checking your logic and removing typos makes any piece much easier to read. However, these writers trip themselves up on the “perfection” part. If a writer gets stuck on the perfection part, they stop themselves […]
This is Johanna Rothman’s December 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. In the first part of inviting culture change, I wrote about Stephanie, a senior leader who wants more organizational agility. She’s used the flow metrics to invite that culture change. So far, she’s succeeded with the
This week’s podcast is part of a science fiction mystery story. Here’s a little behind-the-scenes: I cycle in my fiction, just as I do in my nonfiction. However, my fiction seems to require a whole lot more cycling at the start of the piece, to cement the setting. As I recorded this podcast, I realized
I reviewed where I was on that product value team post, the one that made me draw a picture. Yes, all 1200 words of it. That’s when I laughed out loud and decided to toss that post in the trash. That would allow me to start fresh. Why? I might be able to salvage the
I’m trying to finish my product value team series. I started what I thought was the next-to-last post. I’m still writing, almost 1200 words later. (1200 words!!) I’m stuck. Clearly not with the words. I got a lot of words. But with the ideas. I’m having trouble expressing what I mean. That’s when I realized
I started this series bemoaning the fact that we have too few product managers. That leads to no product leaders for a team. Worse, some teams have either strategic product thinkers or tactical thinkers—but not both. Instead, we can consider several possible product value teams to prevent insufficient product leadership. I already discussed the Vertical
Some of the writers who take my writing workshop tell me they have writer’s block. But they can write me long emails, so it’s not literally writer’s block. However, they are stuck on something—something that prevents them from writing something useful. So they call it writer’s block. Instead, I suspect they have project block, where
My podcast this week is an excerpt from a fiction spy story. After I recorded this, my podcast host sent me an email that my fees are rising. I will move my podcast for 2026, and let you know when I do. (Or, I’ll just use YouTube for the videos.) If you have an opinion
Teams can flounder in the face of insufficient strategic and tactical product leadership. What problems does this product need to solve for its customers and when? How does the team know? That issue of strategy and tactics might require a Vertical Product Value team to answer. While that’s an unusual approach, it might be better
This week’s podcast is from one of my upcoming columns on projectmanagement.com. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for November 28, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is part of what I hope will be