Un-data.
As a Product Manager, it can be surprisingly easy to lose hold of the direction of your product — especially with so many temptations all around, such as short term revenue, user requests, adjacent markets, etc. Most PMs are expected to walk that fine line between team and business. You’re asked to do right by the business and the customer, all while maintaining the product vision, abiding by the data, and listening to your internal stakeholders. It’s a tough spot, which is why most of the Senior PMs I learned from referred to Product Management as “CEO Bootcamp.” There are a lot of people depending on you and the decisions that you make around the roadmap, and you need to be that magical combination of great instincts & keen eyes for data. Remember though — it’s the combination that’s magical. This is why — and I know that it’s blasphemous to say this — you should ignore data at times.
Alright, well maybe don’t ignore it outright, but don’t let it dictate every decision you make. The best data scientists will tell you that sometimes the data can lie, because interpreting data is more art than science. That’s why so often data dependency leads to major scope creep, and eventually product failure. Think of your decision-making process much like a committee decision: Great committees don’t rely on one decision-maker, they consider all perspectives before making a decision. Data should certainly get a vote in the decision-making process, but so should intuition, market research, sustainability, product vision, projected impacts on the entire ecosystem, and of course, impacts on your team.
See, everyone has a different vision for your product — both internally and externally. Each person may have a vested interest in one area of impact, feature, metric, or unseen potential application of your product. When this happens, “we can” has the ability to trump “we should.” One of my favorite illustrations of this concept is from the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant:
Think of the blindfolds as our “what about me?” blinders. Much of how customers and coworkers will approach your product is how it benefits them or their team directly. This creates a lot of “selective visioning” around what we/you should be doing.
So, what can you do to offset this?
As a Product Manager, outlining your vision and guidelines for decision making early on is vital to your success. Holding strong to your original purpose — the ongoing outcome you wish to achieve but will likely never be “done” building — gives you a clearly defined north star to work towards, and the doc should provide a framework for decision-making. To achieve this, build out a robust product guidelines document, which would ideally include a working agreement for the team. That way, you are able to defer to the process when something seems out of scope, or be held in check if you feel the urge to make a decision rashly. It also gives outsiders a realistic expectation of when and how to approach you when they have an idea or request.
