Our daily actions are answers, or attempts at answers, to the questions we ask ourselves. They shape our experience by focusing the energy of our conscious and subconscious thoughts on the search for answers to these questions. They become the lens through which we view reality. The Simpler Questions "How can I have more money?" This …
Tag: Product Management
What is your product like?
One way to look at design: anything which produces a meaningful influence on human behavior. I am always keen to know about small things which change people's behavior. So recently, I came across this story from AirBnB: As part of the onboarding process at Airbnb, the company encourages new employees to ship new features on …
Changing your mind
What significant issue did you change your mind on, in the past year? I find this a worthy question to focus reflection as the year ends. I changed on quite a few things. Broadly I went from being more of a capitalist to being more of a humanist. Here are some details: Diversity I realized …
Psychology isn’t enough
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” - Friedrich Nietzsche I have been intrigued by subtleties of human nature for a long time, and thus devoured a quite a few books on psychology. But I now realize that psychology does not give us a complete understanding of …
Start with the people you care for
Yesterday I met an entrepreneur who had developed solid NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology. I saw the product and immediately got its value. I would buy it. But he was not clear on what customer base he wanted to address. He had two types in mind, researchers (like those in Management Consulting or VC firms), …
The best ideas are not yours
Came across this insight-packed tweet today which sums up a lot of what I think about product management. "I know I am doing my job right when the best ideas are not my own." https://twitter.com/leahjaako/status/700151224268488704 The best ideas come from consumers' minds, from the external world, or from your deep unconscious; in any case, they …
The Toothbrush Test
Do people use your products every day? This is the question asked by Larry Page, the founder of Google - before he acquires a company. According to an article in Business Insider, he asks, "Is this something you will use once or twice a day, and does it make your life better?" That's an insightful …
Idea mining: listen to your customers
Found the CEO of coinbase on Twitter today, answering customer support calls: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/919007133697323009 This was reinforced by Fred Wilson. He called this simple exercise a 'game changer'. I have heard the same from senior managers at Vodafone - who would shave in the morning with their headphones playing recordings of Customer Service calls. This is …
The best ideas are out there
I recently read the book 'Steal like an Artist' by Austin Kleon, and applied some of its lessons in my life. It helped like, a lot. And then, just because, I made this formula to remind myself about how important it is to get ideas from outside. Most of the time, maybe due to high …
Capturing User Feedback
Saw this on the bus I take everyday. I love this idea - of getting customer feedback right at the place where the user experiences the product. And I love the physicality of it, versus the watered down surveys we have all had the pleasure (cough!) of using. The company, foursmileys, offers this for a …
