Introduction
In today's world, when people often talk about Product Management space, they talk about build technology space learning and try to work on the following:
- your product management capability
- ability to make cognitive decision
- evidence based analysis on historical data
- product people talk about decision based conversation
- etc.
What does the term "Product Sense" is about?
Product Sense refers to the capability and ability to understand various aspects of the product management as well as product development. In a nutshell, Product Sense is the capability to understand needs of the product and users.
Meanwhile, Let's connect back to the Hard Decision making of the Product Capability:
In the last decade, the product people spoke about Decision based calls, Data-Driven decision making etc. where it focused more on the factors which are termed as Hard Decision making factors. The practitioners and people are so focused towards "telemetry data" which helped people to grow in numbers but somewhere I feel that it has created a limitation in the conceptual and intuitive thinking.
What does the word Product Sense include?
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant." - Albert Einstein
We / product people often talk about building new skills while working for the product management and capabilities, what I have seen that people often miss to bring these skills as Empathy, Creativity, Intuition based analysis, user research using empathy etc.
Product Sense is a combination of various factors as analytical thinking, cognitive approach, intuition, user empathy and market understanding. To bring these skills and capabilities, oneself has to make informed understanding about the user needs, intent and purpose of the usability, vision and product goals wherein, they can bring best possible ways to achieve those objectives.
Following are some key elements that will helps to build product sense:
Building Product Capability: The determination and definition of the product capabilities based ob the product design, market and intended purpose.
Vision and Strategy: It involves setting a clear vision for the product aligned towards the organizational goal and creating a strategic sets to achieve it.
Market Understanding: Knowing about the market landscape helps a product person to explore various regions / clusters for the product fit. Eventually, it includes knowing about the global market, serviceable market, competition space, latest trends that helps to create understanding of the industry dynamics.
Data-Driven / Evidence based Decision Making: This include leveraging data and metrics to arrive at a decision making. As for example, Split testing, A/A testing, A/B testing, telemetry data, analytics etc. that helps to create informed product dimensions and decision factors.
Product Design and User Experience Creation: Herein, product people can leverage abd build their product sense capabilities by learning about the HCD (human-centred design) based design principles, user-centred design principles to enhance the user experience. These decision making may include focus toward factors as user, , market trends, user specific needs as improving user experiences, user engagement, managing bounce rates, navigation, user pains etc. This element include close collaboration and working of the Product Manager, Designers, User Experience, Engineers to create usability and applicability.
What you need to bring in for developing Product Sense as a continuous journey:
Continuous Learning
Practice Creativity
Bring in innovative ways while interacting with the tactical teams
Let people know with the Why, Intent and Purpose
Empathetic Learning
Empathy
User Empathy
Using various visual canvases to perform user research
Product sense is getting know about all possible thinking and approaches, not just finding one correct or direct answer.
About the Author
Anubhav Sinha is a co-founder as well as the course developer of of the Product Capability Uplift. In this role, Anubhav leads the development of the PMA as well as works as the product thinker of the Product Capability Uplift PMA.
Anubhav Sinha is a product coach, a product management practitioner and technology product geek with almost one and half decade of the product management and development experience that ranges widely in the B2B and B2IB product space. He is known for contributing and creating products majorly in the start-up space, helping start-ups in their early stages and contributing industry product organisations as user-experience flow optimiser. He had served industry as Principal Product Owner [co-founder], Product and Design Thinking Coach, Product Owner and Transformation Coach.
Anubhav holds a Post-Graduation in Marketing - IB and Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics.
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