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How to develop product sense - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Product sense relies on (1) empathy to discover meaningful user needs and (2) creativity to come up with solutions that effectively address those needs.
        
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        You likely have good product sense if you’ve championed successful features or products that were not obvious to others. Here are some examples of products born out of strong product sense:
        
        The original iPhone was built on the insight that people value aesthetics, and not just functionality, in their products. It was designed around the idea that consumers needed a smartphone that felt personal.
        
        The original Gmail responded to unmet user needs at the time. It addressed common user problems, including low storage quotas, poor search experience, and related messages separated from each other (instead of being combined in a thread).
        
        Superhuman saw a need for a modern email client to allow busy professionals to get through emails quickly. It used thoughtful design to support fast email workflows and limit distractions.
- - - - Observe people interacting with products
        
        This practice will help you get better at identifying subtle user needs that others miss (e.g. social, emotional, or functional needs).
        
        You can start small. Initially, I recommend doing this two to four times a month for your product. Don’t just read reports from researchers on your team; instead attend user research sessions to get firsthand exposure to user experiences and reactions.
        
        What’s important is to pay attention to micro details and ask yourself why people react to your product the way they do. Observe their facial expressions as they try various aspects of your product, and try to spot moments when they’re hesitant, confused, excited, etc. In those moments, ask open-ended questions to better understand not just how they feel but, more importantly, why.
        
        Here are some sample questions you can ask:
        
        What do you think the purpose of this product is? Who do you think it’s for? This will give you a sense of how effective your product’s landing page is. It also gives you ideas for words to describe your product that resonate with people.
        
        Now that you’re in the product, what actions do you want to take? This will help you understand which features are easy to discover and how clear your product’s navigation and calls to action are.
        
        What are you thinking right now? How does that make you feel? I tend to ask this at every new step the user lands on, because people tend not to notice their self-talk and feelings otherwise.
        
        Here are five quick lessons about product usage that have stuck with me:
        
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      - Deconstruct everyday products
        
        While deconstructing products, I recommend asking the types of questions Julie Zhuo shares in the article How to Do a Product Critique, such as:
        
        What’s the experience of getting started or signing up?
        
        How does this app explain itself in the first minute?
        
        How easy to use was the app?
        
        How did you feel while exploring the app?
        
        Did the app deliver on your expectations?
        
        Some other questions
        
        How does the app convey its value proposition
        
        What is the look and feel of the app
        
        How ease is to discover and perform core actions
        
        If you want to go deeper in your understanding of a product, I recommend also looking at other products in the same category and comparing and contrasting them.
    - - Learn from great product thinkers
        
        One of the biggest levers for developing creativity (and again, product sense) is to spend time with people who already have it.
        
        Once you’re at a company with great product thinkers, I recommend attending as many product reviews as you can.
        
        If you’re able to connect with great product thinkers, here are some sample questions you can ask to better understand their processes and insights:
        
        What prompted you to build your product? This will give you a sense of the type of user insights you should be looking for and the process to get them.
        
        What were the key decision points along the way?
        
        What alternative approaches did you consider? For ambiguous problems, you have to explore multiple approaches before you land on one that works. Understanding the solutions that were discarded, and why, will help you get a sense of how they test hypotheses and make trade-offs.
        
        What were surprising insights or results? Knowing when their initial hypotheses were wrong and understanding why can help you uncover great insights.
        
        What principles or frameworks helped you navigate the ambiguity? Great product thinkers internalize product principles they use to evaluate solutions. If you can uncover those principles, you can use them to guide your decisions as well.
        
        Gaining access to strong product thinkers may be difficult, but try to read as many blog posts or watch as many videos as you can where product leaders who you look up to share their thought processes.
      - Be curious about changes in technology and your domain
        
        Another practice for developing creativity is to spend time learning about emerging trends in technology, society, and regulations. Changes in the industry create opportunities for launching new products that can address user needs in new ways.
        
        As a PM, you want to understand what’s possible in your domain in order to come up with creative solutions. For example:
        
        Cash App decided to support Bitcoin transactions, and as a result, 76% (nearly $4.6 billion) of its 2020 revenues came from Bitcoin. For more examples of products that benefited from new trends, see Lenny’s article Why now.
        
        Uber became possible because of the proliferation of smartphones with GPS capabilities and the availability of Google Maps APIs.
        
        Clubhouse took off quickly because of the pandemic, which accelerated the need for virtual public discourse.
        
        There are two levels at which you can look at emerging trends: the macro and the micro.
        
        At the macro level, you should keep track of important platform shifts (e.g. web3, AR/VR, AI), social shifts (e.g. the shift to remote work), and changes in regulations (e.g. new privacy protection laws).
        
        It’s important to keep an open mind about new technologies, because at first they receive a lot of skepticism and have obvious flaws. I still remember when people were skeptical of e-commerce and assumed it would never be safe to use credit cards online. When you see a new trend, instead of dismissing it as a fad, ask yourself, “If this trend reaches its full potential, what opportunities will it create that I can pursue?”
        
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        While the macro trends are helpful in seeing where the industry is going, many of the non-obvious opportunities lie in deeply understanding micro changes that may unlock new possibilities.
        
        For example, Figma’s high-quality browser-based application for designers became possible only once WebGL became performant enough. In order to understand the nuances of micro changes, I recommend meeting with engineers and domain experts and going deep with them on topics of interest, such as new APIs or platform capabilities.
        
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