I tested COVID positive on Friday so I had some time to rest and catch up on media and product management Twitter in a way that I hadn't in a long time, and I found some real gems. Fabienne Meijer highlighted an important discussion she had with Damon Kiesow and Paul Rissen about the role (and limits) of data and user input on products. Product manager Lisa Zane, who is incredibly generous in sharing her knowledge and experience on Twitter, discusses the importance of developing a system to gain feedback about yourself and your experience to be able to take advantage of career opportunities.

A lot more in today's review of media. Another one to bookmark is a post by Jory MacKay about the art of unshipping, deciding what features to remove from your product. One nugget of pure gold is a table showing the benefits of adding and removing features.

Or the distinction between data-driven and data-informed decision making

TLDR; Collaborating is easier when we know which role we have — toolongdidntread.substack.com

Ambiguity, change and uncertainty are inherent to innovation. While these qualities mean that innovation is often exciting, it also means it can be frustrating, especially when you keep hitting wall after wall. I’ve been getting stuck repeatedly in one of my projects recently, and in a conversation about my irritation, I heard a great phrase that really resonated:

The summary of an excellent discussion between @fabienne_meijer, Damon Kiesow - @dkiesow - and Paul Rissen - @r4isstatic - about the role of data in decision-making for product development. Some great highlights. Use data to get you about 80% of the way there, says Damon, and Paul points out that a product manager is still responsible for making a decision.

Good product career advice

A decade is a long horizon for career planning, but as I have found out in the past couple of years, you need a plan. And I like the idea about creating a system where you can gather feedback about yourself. One of the things that I learned during my master's degree was how to break problems down into discrete parts that I could more easily and systematically solve.

And a model for B2B media companies

Rafat Ali launched and sold PaidContent, and he has built Skift into a sustainable business of travel information service. He's frank but generous with sharing what he's learned, and he's a contrarian with the strength of his convictions and the results to match. He's one to listen to in what is often a sea of noise about the industry.

‘It’s a modern-day Facebook’ – how BeReal became Gen Z’s favourite app | Social media | The Guardian

A new wave of social media apps are taking advantage of the revolt against Instagram and TikTok. Will these ‘authentic’ networks change the way we connect?

Yes, there will always be another social network, and it appears that each generation will embrace its own.

Global ad market faces ‘car crash’ next year amid cost of living crisis | Advertising | The Guardian

Industry bullish in build-up to football World Cup but marketing spend an ‘easy cost to cut’ as demand slows

The captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign because we expect turbulence ahead.

PBS wrestles with ‘profound transformation’ into multiplatform organization | Current — current.org

“[B]roadcast is still important to people,” says PBS President Paula Kerger. “But it is no longer the principal driver of everything.”

US public media is an example of how culture eats strategy for breakfast. However, it's great to see leadership at the top of PBS lay out a vision.

Product: How to know when to remove features

The art of unshipping: How to deprioritize features, phase out projects and sunset products

In 2017, Apple did something no one expected. They removed the headphone jack on their latest iPhone. The media called it a mistake. Users took to Twitter to announce they’d rather jump ship to Android than deal with another dongle. By the public response, the announcement was a huge mistake...

What a brilliant and insightful piece with an excellent grid about the value of adding and removing features. Bookmark this one because you'll keep coming back to it.

Ocean Media’s Jay Langan on how data fueled this independent agency's long-term strategy - Digiday — digiday.com

Over the last two decades, Ocean Media has emerged as one of the largest data-driven firms helping transform popular brands like Mint Mobile and Rakuten into household names.

"What we’re really trying to do is take an awful lot of first-party data directly from our clients, and then pair that with the different media activity — whether that be linear television [or] digital. We build out really sophisticated dashboards that clients can access on how digital is performing, how their talent is performing… in pretty near real-time. "

It's a great view of how to use data to build a valuable business.