15 Ideas That Will Shape Your View Of Building Products

Ideas and mental models for product managers

1. Start with Why

“People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.” Simon Sinek’s leadership lessons provide a great model for leaders and product managers to communicate and inspire. While most leaders start with the What — the product or solution — Sinek advocates for starting with Why — your purpose for existing and the How — your principles and values that guide your actions.

2. Pareto principle

Also known as the 80/20 rule, this is the idea the majority of results come from a minority of causes. Identify the narrow set of features or customers that drive the majority of impact on your business and focus on improving that functionality and delighting those users.

3. Eating your own dogfood

The practice of testing and using your own products so that you can empathize with your customers and identify opportunity areas. This works even better if you are able to test your product in the same environments and circumstances that a typical user would.

4. Velocity

Speed and velocity are not the same things; speed measures how fast you go, regardless of direction, while velocity measures distance displaced. In product development you want velocity, and the direction you want to be traveling is towards your strategy…