This is the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people. If you think traditional HR practices are stale and out of touch, you have found your People🤘

Learn how product principles and design thinking can transform your People function into a growth driver… all in the time it takes to drink your morning coffee☕

Whether you’re a PX newbie or already a pro, here you’ll find actionable tools and tactics to get full leadership buy-in and make an impact from day 1 🚀

P.S …mine’s a Cortado with oat if you’re buying 😉

Isn't it time you stopped winging it with payroll?

Remember that moment when you hired your first employee? Exciting, right? Then payroll kicked in and suddenly you're drowning in HMRC forms, deadlines, and regulations you've never heard of. Here's the thing: most growing businesses wing it with payroll until something goes wrong. But there's a smarter way to build from day one. That's why I'm inviting you to join "The Payroll Journey: Start, Scale & Succeed Globally" webinar on 27th November at 2pm (GMT). Specialists from Rora, Oyster, and PayFit will be sharing exactly how they’ve helped thousands of companies create payroll systems that actually make sense. This is not to be missed. Save your seat!

Read time: 2 minutes

Hey Reader 👋🏻

Something a little different this week, 2 newsletter drops (one today, one on Friday) as I was a little wrapped up in some very interesting People Product Transformation projects last week - which is very cool - but meant I didn't ship a newsletter on Friday like usual.

I am totally OK with that, particularly as the demand for support with implementing Product Operating models for People teams at various scales is most certainly on a upwards curve! Just in the last 2 weeks I have been delivering, or in discovery, with companies of increasing scale with headcounts ranging from 300 to 20,000+

• 300 h/c
• 600 h/c
• 4,000 h/c
• 15,000 h/c
• and 20,000 h/c

Work as a Product is definitely NOT a niche concept reserved for start-ups and scale-ups now, it seems we are reaching a tipping point with both awareness and adoption of product-led operating models for People teams at scale.

Which is really f'in AWESOME! 🥳 and is why, in 2026 SapienX will become more than a solo-led (i.e "Luke's) vehicle for delivering content, courses, and community for product-minded People Leaders - and shift into a broader platform and consultancy that supports product transformation for People teams at scale, from start-ups to enterprise.

I gotta tell you, I am BEYOND excited for this next phase of growth for both SapienX - and the Product-Led People movement. It may finally be the time to leave HR behind as a relic of an outdated view of people and work, with a viable and better operating model for People teams (OR work design teams) which is moving from emergent, to established.

But, we are still in the early days it's worth remembering - product operating models for People teams are still relatively new, maturity levels are wide ranging, and capability building is just beginning - as a subscriber to this newsletter, YOU are one of the early pioneers of Product-led work design in practice - so massive kudus to you for that 🤘🏻and I hope that what I share weekly in this newsletter is helping move ideas into action which make this shift a reality.

Work Product Pillars v. 1.3

In the previous newsletter I shared a V 1 visual model which I hoped would help simplify the concept of work as a product. What I think is really important to emphasise is that this is not about productised HR services, it’s product transformation for Work itself, and the recognition that Work is the product which drive business health, productivity, and profitability (whilst also providing meaningful experiences of value for employees). The focus of People teams should be on how work gets done and the experience of work itself, not on delivering better HR services.

By the way if you want a really awesome example of what this looks like in practice, you should list to the latest episode of Dart Lindsley's Work for People podcast where Melanie Rosenwasser (Chief People Officer @ Dropbox) about how they implemented their HR as a Product model - despite the semantic choice of "HR as a Product", what Melanie describes in practice is actually what I am talking here when I say work as a product, with the emphasis on driving business outcomes by improving how work gets done, by who, when, and what experience they have along the way.

Back to the model - the tangible elements of the Work Product are comprised of People, Processes, and Technology - The product of work is the orchestration of these 3 components for maximum system performance and optimal people experience.

Since sharing the model, I am now onto V 1.3 - I did say it would be a model that iterates quickly as I work through my thinking, so here you are - the latest version of the model 👇🏻

The main additions and updates:

Work Problems to solve: I changed the 3 example categories as I wanted to emphasise the relationship between the problems we solve and true functional impact as it relates to business performance - These 3 feel universal, but truthfully there are many categories of problems to solve in and around work that aren't represented - the model is for inspiration, adapt as you see fit.

Product Value Chain: I have added a visual representation of the flow of value to make clear that the problems we choose to solve as a People Product team should be linked to both observable functional and operational outcomes, which are in service of creating business impact. Most HR and People Product teams stop at the functional and operational level, but the true unlock is being able to connect that work a business impact bigger than the programme outcome itself.

If you read last weeks newsletter and this one, I think that brings you up to speed on this model and the thinking behind it - I am sure it won't be the last version, but it feels like one you can use today / tomorrow to communicate the philosophy and strategic value of shifting from a HR Services model to a work as a product model.

As always, let me know what you think - I practice what I preach and love feedback, the more critical the better 😅

OK, that’s a wrap for this week.

Grab your coffee and open up your inbox same time next week for insights, tips, and resource flags on how to smash HR silos, add strategic value and turn your People function into a growth driver 🚀

With love,

Luke ✌🏻

PS, when you are ready you might like...

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