Product Therapy: On purpose, "are you mad at me" and the perfect cold brew
Dispatches from August 2025
A video of my favorite summer “block” party in Fort Greene Park. Because a photo couldn’t capture the magic that is Soul Summit at magic hour. 🪄
How ➡️ What
I’ve been stuck in how land.
I’ve always been a how person, self-identifying as an operational, delivery PM and execution wizard. I’m that person that can build a project plan from scratch - sans ChatGPT. I can multitask at a high wave length. And, the instant gratification of checking off a to-do list item keeps me chugging along grounded in how land.
The how has always been my entry point into any project. I started wedding planning with a spreadsheet, not a Pinterest board. And even in my new role, I’ve leaned on how - like process and operations - because the quick wins feel so good.
But lately, I’ve been contemplating how starting with the how has hindered my ability to figure out the what.
Take wedding planning. I stayed so squarely in the how - the numbers, the constraints, the logistics - that I found myself visionless for what I wanted.1
The how is really comfortable. It’s objective facts, negotiations and trade offs.
The what - the vision - can be really uncomfortable because its deeper, subjective work that forces conversation around values. Tasks you can’t easily cross off.
This season, I’m challenging myself to stay in the discomfort of the what despite the temptation of the how.
What’s your entry point into a project? The how or the what?
Product Reads
My Supra Insider podcast episode dropped this month. Check out the video below…
Other Substack Pieces I Wrote This Month
Also…
When I read this piece on PMF, my head nearly exploded.
I loved this Lenny Rachitsky’s episode with Anthropic cofounder Benjamin Mann. This month I facilitated at Hampton’s company offsite. And I convinced many of my coworkers to read this 300+ page book with me.
Culture Clicks
I saw Purpose this past weekend and I’m sending everyone I know before it closes August 31st. I haven’t enjoyed a Broadway play like that in….a long time. 🎭
NYC doesn’t need another trendy taco spot but Santo Taco 🌮 arrived anyway. My friend Ruthie took me to Conwell Coffee ☕️ in FiDi and it was perfectly nostalgic and delicious.
It’s watermelon season and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been on fire in the kitchen making these meatballs, this salad and this chicken. 🍖🥗🍗
I used Mural last week for the first time in years and its really just a fantastic product.
The queen talked about The Hoffman Process 🎙️. I also loved this week’s Modern Love episode:
These mixes by Us Two, neu.ish and STRTRPACK are really hitting this week….
And yes the inability to center these on the page is tearing me apart.
Thanks for reading in your dog days of summer!
Hi - I’m Jori and I’m a Product Coach. If you’re Product Leader or on a Product team looking for support - drop me a note.
We are ever grateful for my vision-full husband who’s entry point is the what.