What product managers need most—the core idea of the product

Product Manager Confusion

Have you ever had such an experience? The company is about to develop a new product, and you are assigned to plan and position the direction of the product. You feel very motivated, and in just a few days, you have completed the initial blueprint and future direction. a briefing.

But when reporting to team members, everyone gave a lot of feedback. Colleague A said: "I think your function is not well planned. No one will use it at all. It should be XXXXXX." Colleague B said, "This function can't be done at all, it's too complicated." Colleague C said: "I think you Feature XXXXXX should be added".

You are so overwhelmed that you feel that every colleague has a point, so you revise the original presentation and report it to your colleague again. As a result, each team member gave different opinions this time. Time and time again, it turns out that your briefing is completely different from the original version.

The above situation is that the product does not have its own set of core ideas.

Why is the core idea of a product important?

If there is no set of core ideas for the product, it will be difficult to clearly define the product function and positioning.

The author of each novel has read many works, exhausted his imagination and his own understanding of the world, and then wrote it word by word.

Every perfect dish is the chef's many years of learning experience and various mastery of ingredients, so that these elements can be recombined according to their own ideas and brought to the table.

Whether it is a dish or a novel, we can treat it as a product. So it can also be said that these writers and chefs are great product managers.

They learn, listen, and think, accepting or rejecting, but never wavering from their unique ideas about the product. Therefore, great works can be created without being influenced by others.

This also shows how important the core idea is to the product.

How to develop core ideas?

The following two steps will help you develop the core idea of your product:

1. Think about the pros and cons of products <br class="smart">There are so many products that we use every day, we may be accustomed to these functions because of day-to-day use, and have never thought further about the pros and cons of these functions. . However, if we want to develop critical thinking, we can think about what is doing well and what is not doing well in a product and list it. Finally, you can gradually find the type of product that "thinks" is good.
   
   
2. Think about why you think they are strengths or weaknesses <br class="smart">After listing your perceived strengths and weaknesses, think further about why you feel they are strengths or weaknesses. For example, a certain UI function makes you very satisfied with the use, we can think more deeply, whether it is the screen design, the use process or the response time of the software, etc. . . Try to describe why you like or dislike it as objectively and rationally as possible.

By repeating the above two steps, we will gradually internalize the thinking behind many products. With the increase of experience, you can gradually develop the core idea of the product, so that when planning the product, you can more keenly identify whether the function is good or bad, and solve the problem at the same time, consider the possibility of the extension problem.

Are there any blind spots that might arise?

However, the root of the core idea actually originates from a person's cognition and criticism of the surrounding things. Therefore, sometimes it may fall into the blind spot of personal stubbornness and act too subjectively.

Assuming that in terms of cooking, in a certain area, according to statistics, only 20% of people like very spicy dishes, and if the products planned by the product manager are the dishes that the public likes, they should not choose very spicy dishes because of their own preferences. cuisine as a development.

How to avoid blind spots?

If you want to avoid the blind spot that is too subjective, you can discuss with the team to think about the thinking direction of the different opinions put forward by the team members, and try to use their perspective to rethink their original ideas.

in conclusion

If you want to be a product PM, you must have your own set of core ideas about the quality of the product. To judge which functions are good and which are not good, and can objectively analyze the reasons behind them.

However, in the process of cultivating this set of thinking, the phrase "what people believe, they will see" will gradually become a potential blind spot, which leads us to intuitively design products with past experience and forget about other possibilities. .

Therefore, by discussing and empathizing with the team, constantly doubting yourself and thinking about your original position from different angles, you can avoid such potential problems.