Words that can boost creativity for product managers

As a product manager, you’re no stranger to the relentless demands of your role. Whether it’s fine-tuning features, aligning stakeholders, or navigating market shifts, the constant juggling act can sometimes lead to a mental impasse. When every idea seems stale, and every decision feels like treading water, it’s easy to succumb to the frustration of creative stagnation. That’s where the power of words comes in.

Consider the following ten “trigger words” not merely as vocabulary, but as catalysts for innovation. They’re the spark that ignites a fresh perspective, propelling you out of the doldrums of indecision and into the realm of possibility. So, without further ado, let’s delve into this lexicon of inspiration.

1. Disruptive: Break free from the confines of conventional thinking. Embrace the disruptive potential of your product to challenge industry norms and carve out new paradigms. Spotify disrupted the music industry by providing subscription-based all you can eat music streaming. Uber disrupted the passenger-transport industry by connecting passengers with private drivers via a convenient mobile application. Disrupt when you want to disturb the status quo and need to leapfrog the incumbent market leaders.
2. Ecosystem: Zoom out from individual features to envision the broader ecosystem your product inhabits. Explore synergies and partnerships that amplify its value proposition. Imagine your core product helps job-seekers write more comprehensive and impactful CVs. There is an entire eco-system surrounding that job seeker journey. Online and offline recruitment firms and consultants. Government departments dedicated to getting people back into work. Employers, universities, training providers and schools. Are there complimentary products and services that you could offer that are adjacent to the product’s core function?
3. Frictionless: Streamline user experiences by eliminating friction at every touchpoint. Whether it’s a seamless onboarding process or intuitive navigation, prioritize simplicity and ease of use. Determine and measure friction by watching new users engage with your product. Where do they pause? What questions do they ask? Where do they abandon their journey? Calculate the cost of users not completing their processes and prioritize the most impactful ways to prevent drop-out. Use both qualitative and quantitive methods to learn where friction is occurring for existing features and build in low-friction as a design consideration for new features.
4. Iteration: Embrace the iterative nature of product development. Each iteration is not just a step forward but an opportunity to learn, adapt, and refine your offering. When you have an idea, figure out a way to build an iteration to test it within your target market. What does that first iteration need to do in order to give you the information you need?
5. Empower: Empower your users to achieve their goals autonomously. Provide them with the tools, knowledge, and support they need to succeed on their terms. Use in-app surveys and questions to ask users what tasks they would prefer to perform themselves whilst they are in the context of using your application. Many products charge per user, but few products allow users to upgrade their account autonomously to bring on more users to the system. Experiment with chatbots to help users answer their own support queries or find the resources that can help them overcome common challenges.
6. Personalisation: Recognize the diverse needs and preferences of your user base. Leverage data-driven insights to deliver personalised experiences that resonate on an individual level. Simple personalisation options such as light mode vs dark mode or dashboard layouts build engagement and loyalty. Display times relative to user location and monetary values in the user’s preferred currency. Provide short cuts to records and actions that the user regularly uses.
7. Sustainability: Look beyond short-term gains to build products with long-term impact. Consider the environmental, social, and economic implications of your decisions to create sustainable value. Consider creating free or low-cost editions for non-profit organisations or to provide access and value to low-earners or professionals at the start of their career. Provide transparent pricing and create pricing models that are proportionate to consumed resources. Understand how your development and production pipeline can become sustainable over the long-term. Avoid burnout and creating unnecessary stress within the team.
8. Inclusivity: Ensure that your product is accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or background. Champion inclusivity in design and functionality to foster a sense of belonging for every user. Engage accessibility experts and stakeholders early in the design process and implement best practice guidelines. Ask a wide cross-section of users to present directly to your engineering and development team to help increase empathy and understanding.
9. Agility: Embrace agility as a guiding principle in a rapidly evolving landscape. Stay nimble and responsive, ready to pivot direction as market dynamics shift. Consider change as the norm and ensure plans can accommodate various types of changes. Plan in detail for short term objectives, but do not over-plan mid to long term objectives so that you don’t feel that time has been wasted if the overall strategic direction changes.
10. Storytelling: Craft compelling narratives that captivate your audience and communicate the essence of your product. Harness the power of storytelling to forge emotional connections and inspire action. Practice telling stories at every opportunity. During interviews. At internal presentations. Whilst presenting at user conferences. Each time you tell the story, you will find out which parts are landing and resonating with your audience.

Every product manager gets blocked from time to time. Using words as a starting point for creative thinking is a simple but practical approach to breaking through and re-discovering the enthusiasm and energy to keep going.