Great newsletters to read for learning and professional development

For UX Research, Product Design and Product Development

Nov 26

We’ve picked 10 newsletters that we subscribe to or read. They range from tactical techniques that can be used immediately to broader topics. Each of these newsletters brings something different. It's balanced to match the knowledge you should have in Product Development, Product Design and UX Research. Most are written by experienced professionals in their field.

Source: xkcd

Julie Zhuo - General/Design/Management

Julie is a former VP of Product Design at Facebook and now a co-founder at Sundial. She speaks honestly about her experiences of moving from an individual contributor to leader. Her newsletter covers a range of topics including self-improvement, and knowledge you should have in an organisation.

Great articles to start with:

Deb Liu - General/Product Management

Deb is a Board of Director and active member of the Women in Product group. Her content is similar to Julie Zhou with a product twist. She’s now CEO of Ancestry.com but has plenty to share in terms of working as a product manager and starting off in that area. She combines this with honest advice and behind the curtains approach to her life also.

Great articles to start with:

Cal Newport - Productivity

Time management, energy management and being productive are all useful skills to have regardless of your role or level. Cal Newport not only talks about this but very much applies it to his own life.

Great articles to start with:

Stratechery by Ben Thompson - Business strategy

Understanding business strategy and where technology is headed is important for us. Stratechery analyzes the current shifts in strategy to forecast its impact on the company’s future. I have been following this newsletter for the past 5 years.

It was a difficult choice. These are good articles to start with:

Benedict Evans - Trends in product and tech

Benedict Evans is now an independent analyst but has experience working in a venture capital firm. He shares his thoughts on shifts in consumers, technology, policy and society, in general.

These are good articles to start with:

Ken Norton - Product Management

Ken Norton is a seasoned product leader. He writes about how to be successful at product management. Bring the Donuts was the first newsletter I followed for product management. I am still a subscriber and continue to look forward to his new essays.

My recommendations to begin with:

Ask Gib by Gibson Biddle - Product Management

Gibson Biddle formerly a VP of Product at Netflix and Chegg. He answers product related questions twice a week. They cover all levels of Product Management - from roadmapping, metrics to the day to day of being a Product Manager.

Great articles to start with:

User Weekly and People Nerds - two UX Research newsletters

Good tactical and practical advice from People Nerds. User Weekly collation of articles and featuring researchers in the industry. Some of the articles I have found useful to coach my team members in growing their skillset.

Great article to start with:

Farnam Street - Personal and Professional Development

Shane Parrish runs Farnam Street. He puts together great content to make you think about both your personal and professional development. Every day you should be growing, changing, or improving in some form. Farnam Street provides great material in different formats to begin doing that.