The Two Common Pitfalls Product Managers fall into

Building a Product is the most fascinating part of being a Product Manager. To see a Product coming to shape and more so being used by a customer is the moment of Nirvana! every Product Manager aspires to live for. The journey from Problem Identification to Delivering a Value proposition (Via a Product) is never easy and is full of pitfalls and inconceivable problems which often derail the delivery of value to the customer. 

No wonder one of the most important traits for being a Product Manager is To be Brave.

Being a Product Manager is never easy. This comes with facing failures, managing success, influencing without authority and above all being the face of the product. While there are many mistakes Product Managers make the two most common pitfalls that I have come across (and have fallen into the pit as well !) are

1. Giving up on the problem too early 
2. Jumping to a solution too early

Pitfall 1 – Giving up on the problem too early

Bubble wrap was created by two engineers Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding in 1960. Attempting to market their product as a New Textured Wallpaper they failed miserably and eventually gave up on the product. The Bubble Wrap was put to a great use in packaging by IBM and the Bubble Wrap became an overnight sensation. A case of giving up too early on the problem – Yes or Not !

Wheaties tasty flake the famous breakfast cereal was tried and tested and proven to  be successful on its 36th attempt. The dietitian at The Washburn Crosby Company did not give up on the product too early.

Often we find product managers giving up on the problems after a few initial rounds of customer interviewing. Product managers fall into this trap of believing that the problem is 1. Not a problem or 2. Not large enough to be solved. The challenge for a product manager is to stay in the game and look for the insights which can either validate the problem or pivot into a new problem definition.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it – Albert Einstein  

Often as a Product Manager myself when I come across potential customers who don’t believe in the problem I go back and speak to more people. Speaking to more people either validates the problem or  gives those insights which helps me pivot into a new space.

By sticking / listening to the market, the potential customers we can overcome falling into this pitfall of giving up on the problem too early.

Pitfall 2 – Jumping to a solution too early

If giving up on a problem is one pitfall believing something is a problem too early is the other pitfall.

Building a product is about investing the time in the problem space and eventually building a product in the solution space. The success of a good product lies in the time spent in the problem space. This is where the problem is defined and understood well. The unsaid needs of the customers sit here. Product managers often believe something is a problem after interviewing a few customers and jump to build a solution. Solutions that are build in such haze often fail and fail without any chance of up spring.

Crystal Pepsi was a concept that Pepsi believed in way back in 1992. Coming up with a concept of caffeine free drink the company managed to generate $470 million in sales in the first year. The product went out of sight within two years due to poor consumer preferences.

It is perfectly human to believe that we understand the problem and should build something. After all we want to be the first !

The best way to over come this pitfall is (as I have drawn above) – to validate your hypothesis. Validating the hypothesis via Design thinking, low fidelity prototypes, and focused groups justifies the movement into the solution space. This approach allows a smooth fool proof transition into the solution space – a space which would be far more brighter than the real space!

The failures happen at the validation phase. The learning’s happen at the validation phase. This validation phase helps us to overcome even the pitfall 1 of giving up on the problem too soon. Successful product managers love to live here. It is here they spend the maximum time – after all this is the place which is closest to the customers.

AVOIDING THE PIT

No product manage can avoid the pit. Pits are there to give us the wounds, to teach us the unknown. The question is – the pit you fall into is it a pit you are happy to fall into or not? By believing in hypothesis, validating the hypothesis we as product managers can ensure the pit is a know one and by falling into it we are still progressing and not stagnating. The next time you want to give up on your problem or jump to a solution – validate the hypothesis.

Lessons in Product Management Via a Tree Plantation Drive – Part 1

I Recently participated in a Tree Plantation Drive – Vrindavanotsava organised by my friend. The event was a great success and while driving back home I started articulating can there be a co-relation between Tree Plantation and Product Management. Surprisingly there were quite a few and below is a humble attempt to draw those co-relations.

PAIN POINTS – All the products look at solving a Pain Point. So what are the pain points in contention here (Via a empathy map as shown in the figure) – Global Warming, Lack of water, Polluted Air, Increased cost to keep oneself healthy and a compromised lifestyle. The problem space here so huge that one can have the Empathy Map filled up to the fullest. I have kept it at bare minimum to create less confusion!

The Customer Insighting- The objective here is to understand the pain from a people point of view, how big is the problem, validate the problem (via a Hypothesis statement) and are there others solving the problem? If yes how.

The hypothesis here could be as abstract as We believe that people in today’s world are suffering from poor health, poor quality life style and an increased cost of living due to Global Warming. We would be proven right if 1 out of every 3 individual believes this to be a problem for them.

The hypothesis could be easily validated by talking to people around us. Needless to say I had a 100% acceptance of the problem. In other words every person I spoke to said this was a problem.

There are quite a few secondary data available to speak on deforestation and the impact it has had on the community. Similarly there are enough information available which speaks of the Global warming and the rise in temperature and other causes.

Essentially both the Primary and the Secondary research would point out the fact that the Hypothesis stands validated.

Though the Customer Insighting phase does not get us to a solution it helps us to understand the problem in detail which here can be broken down to following symptoms such as – deforestation, increased use of plastics, industrial waste and industrial pollution, increase vehicles and emission,

More to follow in Part 2.

This blog can also be read at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lessons-product-management-via-tree-plantation-drive-rajagopalan-