Signs of addiction to the Product craft
Published in
2 min readSep 5, 2019
- Every chance you get, you want to ask, “What’s the problem that is bugging you the most?”. Yeap. At dinner parties. On the playground. Even at the supermarket.
- You get a little jumpy and excited hearing about a problem. (And no, this does not make you a sadist)
- You dream about the infinite possibilities of solutions. (See, this makes you an optimist)
- Your mind moves like OCD on the camera zoom lens. Zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out.
- You dream about the huge picture (not just the big picture) and crazy talk about the impact on the universe ensues.
- Company and personal missions ignite you. You inherit a strong desire to not only aid but advocate the cause. Live and breathe it.
- When the right outcomes are hit, no matter if you had a direct or indirect impact, you inevitably skip home.
- That top priority problem you have consumes your every waking thought.
- You declare on social that you’re going to a product conference and can’t wait to hang with other product addicts. It’s just like going to Coachella honestly.
- Your end of day thought is often “Who do I need to be tomorrow?”
- You know that insomnia comes with the job. (But seriously, it should not stay. Don’t play with your health and see a professional if it persists)
- You never run out of product articles/podcasts/books to read up on.
- Err. And add to that list these topics — leadership, JavaScript, Agile, SEO, marketing, psychology, Lean, branding, visual, data et cetera. Google is confused as to what you do.
- In your notes to self, you have both ‘Research more’ and ‘Stop researching’. Replace ‘research’ with ‘design’, ‘experiment’, ‘dream’.
- You (hopefully) spend a little time at the end of the workday, trying to replenish your emotional bank. Because you’ve spent a lot of your day empathizing with others.
- You have a hunger to practice your craft, again and again.
- You see product management applications everywhere. Groceries. Xmas gifts. Child’s school project. Laundry.
- Your primary school child asks you (!), “What is the problem we’re trying to solve?”
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