Why details matter

A thank you note to Marty Cagan for his use of the female pronoun, she, in his book “Inspired”

I’ve always seen myself as someone who did not have a thoroughly planned career path, someone who goes with the flow, but everything changed when I read “Inspired”.

In my work over the last few months I had to look deeply into tech products, and, like many people, “Inspired” became my main reference.

Since the beginning, something unexpected caught my attention: Marty Cagan’s choice of pronoun. At every opportunity he chose to use she instead of he. It seems simple, but we don’t even realize that most books we read, or more, most texts we read have “he” as the main pronoun. And being represented as a woman by this small detail made all the difference.

However I didn’t understand why he made that choice. I started searching Google for explanations but I didn’t find any. I even went back to the text to check if I wasn’t crazy. How were people not talking about that?

At the same time, the more I read, the more I became fascinated with the product world. It was new and intriguing. The book showed how I could apply those product methodologies in my work, and as I applied them I realized their complexity and their reach.

My curiosity made me, for the first time, write a plan on how I was going to develop myself into a Product Manager. I had a career I wanted to follow.

I finished the book, but that small detail and the doubt about why he made that pronoun choice never left me mind.

Then I found this text: https://svpg.com/why-women-make-the-best-product-managers/

He, in person (or his digital version, anyway), was explaining why, and saying that on his “rock stars” list of product managers more than half were women.

It all made sense.

Although kind of unconsciously, from the beginning I felt I was being acknowledged, I was reading a book that was written for me and that gave examples of women that had a major role on many products I use and admire. It meant it was possible that I could someday be one of those women.

Men might not understand, but these details matter to us, because we have been taught to feel that we achieve because we are lucky, that we do not deserve it. In the back of our minds we are always impostors.

Thus, seeing ourselves in a pronoun is huge. It is a reminder that it is possible. There are incredible women who lead the way and made it possible (although with lots of obstacles) to read a text from Marty Cagan highlighting that many of the traits usually found in women are essential for being a strong Product Manager.

And for me in particular it showed that, even though without noticing, feeling represented in that book may potentially determine my career future.