The product death cycle is a terrible trap. Many PMs forget about the "Why" and become waiters. To please everyone, a waiter collects and waterfalls all "feature requirements" to the team. But no matter how much the team delivers, it gets only worse. Features shipped in a hurry do not solve anyone's problems and do not drive the expected business results. The feature factory. Fortunately, you can prevent or escape that trap. Try this: 1. Respect your vision and strategy 2. Do not let your customers design solutions 3. Experiment to test your ideas 4. Push back on things that are handed down Now in detail: 1. Respect your vision and strategy Ask yourself: - Why are you building this product? - Where do you want to be in 2-5 years? - For whom are you building it? - What's the unique value of your product? - How is it aligned with the company's vision and strategy? - What are the key tradeoffs? - What are the customer jobs (functional, emotional, social)? - How will it create value for the business? - How can you get there? Recommended books: - Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder - Playing to Win by Roger Martin - 2. Do not let your customers design solutions Focus on understanding their problems, needs, and desires in-depth. Interview them regularly, map opportunities, and brainstorm possible solutions. Make sure the designer and engineers are included. This will let you build a shared understanding and stay open to different perspectives. The best ideas often come from engineers. Recommended books: - Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres - The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick - Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri - 3. Experiment to test your ideas Learning by delivering is expensive. Run small experiments in a front-of-funnel to validate ideas in the cheapest and the fastest possible way before selecting them for implementation. Key risks you need to tackle: - Value. Will our customers desire it? - Usability. Will they be able to use it? - Viability. Can different parts of our business support it? - Feasibility. Is it possible? - Ethic. Should we do it? Ask yourself: - What needs to be true for this idea to work? - How can we test our assumptions? Recommended books: - Inspired by Marty Cagan - The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen - Testing Business Ideas by Alexander Osterwalder and David Bland - 4. Push back on things that are handed down Respect your stakeholders, but don't let their authority influence what is important. Question solutions and push back on things that are handed down to you. "A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have" - Tim Ferriss Recommended book: - Influence Without Authority by Allan Cohen and David Bradford - Even though knowledge about what works is easily available, most companies keep falling into that trap. Any ideas why? - The product death cycle credits: David Bland.
Great read! Demand side sales by Bob Moesta will be a good add.
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This is great! Thanks for the reading list.
I much prefer to use the model of customers want outcomes. Get them to express the outcome they want, not the solution they want. This way, you are much more likely to be comprehending the real value.
Hey Paweł, what you're highlighting resonates deeply. It's like you're saying, PMs should transcend being mere "order takers" and genuinely engage with the vision, strategy, and true needs of the users. By grounding ourselves in the "Why", experimenting wisely, and having those essential challenging conversations, we prevent becoming a 'feature factory' and truly drive meaningful innovation. It's perplexing, though, that despite the availability of insights, the product death cycle remains a recurring issue for many. Could it be that it's easier to default to familiar patterns than to embrace the discomfort of genuine change?
The best feature is one you can take away. Whether that’s remove something, change it or merge it into a new feature that might fulfil the customers needs
I think a root cause may be short-term thinking and inertia. It's tempting to just keep cranking out features without pausing to re-evaluate the strategy and vision. And it can be hard to change established processes. But taking a step back to reflect and trying small experiments could pay off in the long run. As they say, "The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.” Perhaps another factor is difficulty balancing diverse perspectives - customers, executives, engineers etc. It's tricky to incorporate input without losing sight of the north star. Strong leadership and collaboration skills are key. Overall though, you outline an approach that seems highly practical. Asking the right questions, testing assumptions, and pushing back when needed. I appreciate you sharing these insights! Looks like some great books too, I'll have to check those out.
“Do not let customers design solutions”…. PREACH! They are typically great at describing their problem. If they were good at describing the solution…they would already know the solution! Most changes I’ve seen suggested to unpopular platforms from the users of that platform are 90%+ tied to what they have…because it’s what they know. The solution lies in what they don’t.
Solid advice on focusing on vision, understanding customer needs, experimenting, and maintaining autonomy in decision-making! 👏