Homo Deus butchered for product design 🗡

Product design inspirations from Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

All the butchering happened digitally. No hard copy was harmed during the production of this post.

The mark of a great book is that inspires each one of us in our own way. When I read Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari, my limited mind spotted product design lessons hidden all through the book 🤩.

Here go my musings on the following topics:

• Product strategy
• Customer discovery
• The elusive product-market fit
• Product-led growth
• High expectation customer

Product strategy

Fiction overpowering reality — BRD overpowering real customer needs.

Excerpt from the book:

Written language may have been conceived as a modest way of describing reality, but it gradually became a powerful way to reshape reality. When official reports collided with objective reality, it was often the reality that had to give way.

Product design version:

Business requirement documents (BRDs) may have been conceived as a modest way of describing customer reality, but it gradually became a powerful way to reshape product strategy. When BRDs collide with customer needs, it is often customer needs that have to give way.

Customer discovery

The Discovery of ignorance is the first step towards progress.

Excerpt from the book:

The greatest scientific discovery is the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realized how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress.

Product design version:

The greatest customer discovery is the discovery of ignorance. Once founders/product managers realize how little they know about the customer, they suddenly have a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opens up the user-centric road to progress.

The elusive product-market fit

Achieving product-market fit is still a puzzle in spite of so much expertise floating around.

Excerpt from the book:

…how does modern science relate to religion? It seems that people have already said a million times everything there is to say about this question. Yet, in practice, science and religion are like a husband and wife who after 500 years of marriage counseling still don’t know each other. He still dreams about Cinderella and she keeps pining for Prince Charming, while they argue about whose turn it is to take out the rubbish.

Product design version:

…how does modern product relate to market? It seems that experts have already said a million times everything there is to say about this question. Yet, in practice, product and market are like a husband and wife who after years of marriage counselling still don’t know each other. Product still dreams about PR and market keeps pining for perfect solution, while they argue about whose turn it is to nail the problem space.

Product-led growth

Growth, the quintessential of humanity and products alike.

Excerpt from the book:

Modernity is based on the firm belief that economic growth is not only possible, but absolutely essential. Prayers, good deeds, and meditation might be comforting and inspiring, but problems such as famine, plague, and war can only be solved through growth.

Product design version:

Product design is based on the firm belief that customer growth is not only possible, but absolutely essential. Marketing, good customer service, and rewards might be comforting and inspiring, but problems such as acquisition, engagement, and scale can only be solved through customer growth.

High expectation customer (HXC)

User-centric products focus on the high expectation customer instead of racking up daily active users (DAU).

Excerpt from the book:

1. Are organisms really just algorithms, and is life really just data processing?
2. What’s more valuable — intelligence or consciousness?
3. What will happen to society, politics, and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves?

Product design version:

1. Are users really just DAUs, and is product success really just racking up users?
2. What’s more valuable — high expectation customer or daily active user?
3. What will happen to business, product, and daily active user when non-PR focussed but highly user-centric competitors know users better than we know them?

Recap

1. Instead of blindly relying on the BRD, unmet user needs must continually drive the product strategy.
2. Only when product teams admit that they don’t know enough about their customers, they will value research and utilize gathered insights.
3. Achieving the elusive product-market fit is still a big challenge for businesses.
4. Product-led growth (acquisition, retention, and scale) can be achieved by helping customers get better at what they are trying to achieve.
5. Companies that focus on high expectation customers will have an advantage over those that try to rack up random users.

Credit

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari is my single source of inspiration for this article.

This article was originally published on the Bayzil blog.