I was having lunch with my product leader friend Carey Caulfield recently, and something dawned on us: In the product world, we often forget how we came to “know” certain things. When someone doesn’t appear bought into a product-oriented way of working, it’s easy to chalk things up to mindset, intent, attitude, strength as a leader, etc. It’s easy to feel frustrated and not trusted.
This was a depressive post to read. Why? Because it highlights so many (too many!) things that I suspect most product people never experienced... or will ever experience. And the same is true for engineers, which is my functional area.
But maybe that's just my bias from n=1? Maybe there's actually many more teams working well and doing good work than I think?
I can resonate with this. Few months ago, I use to observe 5/10 energy of devs and I explain them the situation rather than the task/feature. First Hand Experience is exactly the thing needed. 👏
This is a very insightful article about the vast chasm between theory and practice. It also makes me glad I've had the opportunity to work for so many different sized companies at different stages of maturity.
This resonates with me. Many of the best decision makers are able to tap into a well of experiences to justify why they advocate for any specific thing or focus area. Without the right experiences it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking many of these things are optional.
#6 resonates for sure. In my last role, I can’t recall a time when I had interactions with customers to understand a problem firsthand. Even when I started in my earlier days at the company, there was never a moment when I saw excitement trickle down from tech leads to other ICs. We were all just building the thing. Developers are definitely an important part of the product process. Thanks for calling this out. Great post!
This was a depressive post to read. Why? Because it highlights so many (too many!) things that I suspect most product people never experienced... or will ever experience. And the same is true for engineers, which is my functional area.
But maybe that's just my bias from n=1? Maybe there's actually many more teams working well and doing good work than I think?
It's hard to explain what salt tastes like to someone who has never tasted salt.
Experience and learning from someone with product experience (battle scars and wins included) is how to lift a product team
I can resonate with this. Few months ago, I use to observe 5/10 energy of devs and I explain them the situation rather than the task/feature. First Hand Experience is exactly the thing needed. 👏
This is a very insightful article about the vast chasm between theory and practice. It also makes me glad I've had the opportunity to work for so many different sized companies at different stages of maturity.
Wow, that was one of the best articles I’ve read this year, thanks! Lots of food for thought.
This was a fun read. Have a good week!
This resonates with me. Many of the best decision makers are able to tap into a well of experiences to justify why they advocate for any specific thing or focus area. Without the right experiences it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking many of these things are optional.
#6 resonates for sure. In my last role, I can’t recall a time when I had interactions with customers to understand a problem firsthand. Even when I started in my earlier days at the company, there was never a moment when I saw excitement trickle down from tech leads to other ICs. We were all just building the thing. Developers are definitely an important part of the product process. Thanks for calling this out. Great post!
I can recall so many of these situations, the good ones and the bad ones, and you’re absolute right!