Chasing your competition is stupid
There is something wildly intoxicating about an obvious solution. Even if the solution ends up being the wrong one, the fact that it’s staring you in the face is hard to ignore. For Product teams, often that alluring solution involves taking the simple way out — chasing your competition because you’re convinced that’s what’s necessary to remain relevant. This leads to a lot of product roadmaps looking like this:
Aside from the fact that this is a super boring way to decide the future of your product, it also has the potential to be a disastrous strategic decision for your organization. If you’re already a market leader, you have the benefit of being able to dictate what’s important in your space. For the rest of us though, the bright lights of an industry leader’s new features often represents a trap.
The best case scenario here is you end making a shitty knock-off of somebody else’s idea. More likely, you plow ahead on developing features outside of the context they were conceived in — delivering a worse experience and driving your customers into the arms of the competitors you just (poorly) ripped off.
While getting into a feature arms race might appease your Sales team, it’s rarely the right decision long-term. If your organization has the resources to compete head to head with the market leader, this approach becomes barely more palatable, but it’s still not ideal. Not only is this method of product planning based largely on the assumption that your competitors are right, it’s also a quick way to lose touch with your own customers which is a recipe for stifling innovation.
The best case scenario here is you end making a shitty knock-off of somebody else’s idea.
Are you sure your competitor is right?
In the past, I have extolled the virtues of assuming you’re wrong and I stand by that. I don’t, however, think that assuming you’re wrong means you have to assume your competitors are right. There are definitely table stakes functionality for any product, and oftentimes, it’s the early entrants into the market that determine those features. That said, not every feature a competitors adds, even if they’re the market leader, becomes a required feature.
Ultimately, this is a lazy strategic shortcut that can drive your product, and possibly your company, right off a cliff. What works (or doesn’t) for them is no guarantee that it will (or won’t) work for your team. Following a competitor’s lead also means you’re assuming their research practices, corporate strategy, and product vision are all right. It ignores the reality that you and your competition are two different companies with different goals, customers, and motivations. It also eliminates the opportunity for your organization to provide their perspective on the best way to solve a customer problem.
Customers? We don’t need no stinkin’ customers
Taking the time that a lot of companies spend chasing their competitors and refocusing that energy on getting to know your customers will be far more effective. By letting your competition steer your roadmap, you’re not spending that time understanding your customers or their Jobs (that’s another post, though). To me, the biggest problem with the me-too approach is that you’re making decisions for your team devoid of context. When competitive analysis replaces customer research in your discovery process, you know you’re headed down the wrong path.
(That all said, I’m all for stealing concepts and making them my own. If you see a feature that a competitor develops that looks compelling and you’ve done the work to ensure it fits within your broader strategic vision, you should develop it.)
What *is* next for your product?
If you measure your value to customers in terms of feature parity with the industry leaders, you’re never going to understand why people value your solution enough to pay you real money. Disruption Theory tells us that the biggest threat to an entrenched incumbent is somebody attacking a different part of the value chain, something that’s basically impossible if you’re copy catting. Knowing where you fit on the value chain lets you disrupt the bigger organizations or, if you are a bigger organization, disrupt yourself before it’s too late.
Your customers are yours for a reason; buying technology in 2018 is too easy for people to tolerate subpar solutions for long. They have hired your solution and playing whack-a-mole with competitive features will guarantee that you never learn what that reason is. Understanding what drives users to your solution reveals your strengths — giving you the opportunity to double down on those and carve out your unique right to win in your market. It also helps you realize where your current offering is underserving your existing customers — providing clear guidance as to what’s next for your product.
There are also situations where this advice is obviously stupid. Sometimes, the feature a leader develops does become a must-have feature in your market and at that point you … must have it. It’s also not sound advice for Sales, Marketing, and Product Marketing teams who need to be very aware of what competitors are doing in order to be successful. This also isn’t a suggestion that as a Product team, you should put your head in the sand entirely. Being aware of what’s happening in the market is important, I’m just sure that you’ll be better served by being aware of what’s happening for your users.
