Podcasts Technology Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career What differentiates the highest-performing product teams | John Cutler (Amplitude, The Beautiful Mess)

What differentiates the highest-performing product teams | John Cutler (Amplitude, The Beautiful Mess)

Published: Jan. 15, 2023, 1:01 p.m.

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\u2019s 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\u2019s planning in his new role at Toast.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-differentiates-the-highest-performing

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Where to find John Cutler:

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/johncutlefish

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpcutler/

\u2022 Newsletter: https://cutlefish.substack.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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Referenced:

\u2022 Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

\u2022 The North Star Playbook: https://info.amplitude.com/north-star-playbook

\u2022 Craig Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigmdaniel/

\u2022 Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595

\u2022 AppFolio: https://www.appfolio.com/

\u2022 High Leverage Product Evangelism: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/high-leverage-product-evangelism

\u2022 Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/

\u2022 The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business: https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-Breaking-Invisible-Boundaries/dp/1610392507

\u2022 Innovation Labs: https://innovationlabs.com/

\u2022 BEES: https://mybeesapp.com/

\u2022 Marty Cagan on Lenny\u2019s Podcast: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan#details

\u2022 Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility: https://www.amazon.com/Sooner-Safer-Happier-Patterns-Antipatterns/dp/1942788916

\u2022 Teresa Torres on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresatorres/

\u2022 Andrew Huberman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab/?hl=en

\u2022 TBM 49/52: Pyramid of Leadership Self/Other Awareness: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-4952-pyramid-of-leadership-selfother

\u2022 ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/chat

\u2022 How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business: https://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Business-ebook/dp/B00INUYS2U

\u2022 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

\u2022 User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product: https://www.amazon.com/User-Story-Mapping-Discover-Product/dp/B08TZGKKF2

\u2022 Build with Maggie Crowley podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-with-maggie-crowley/id1445050691

\u2022 One Knight in Product podcast: https://www.oneknightinproduct.com/index.html#page-top

\u2022 Sunny Bunnies on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81286920

\u2022 Booba on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81011059

\u2022 Toast: https://pos.toasttab.com/

\u2022 Drift: https://www.drift.com/

John\u2019s list of high-performing people worth following:

\u2022 Dr. Cat Hicks (@grimalkina) https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcathicks/\xa0

\u2022 Stephanie Leue https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-leue/

\u2022 Amy Edmondson (@AmyCEdmondson) https://www.linkedin.com/in/amedmondson/

\u2022 Dominica DeGrandis (@dominicad) https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicadeg/

\u2022 Courtney Kissler https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-kissler-0930681/

\u2022 Christina Wodtke (@cwodtke) https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinawodtke/

\u2022 Matthew Skelton https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewskelton/

\u2022 Heidi Helfand (@heidihelfand): https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidihelfand/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) What is a product evangelist? John\u2019s unique role at Amplitude

(05:50) John\u2019s reflections and feelings on leaving Amplitude

(17:28) What John\u2019s doing next

(18:52) John\u2019s 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 \xa0

(55:55) Why it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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

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