The fundamental truths about product management and parenthood
I'm ashamed to admit I only recently read Marty Cagan's book “Inspired”. I am happy to say it was an inspiring experience. Every page in that book made me realize the beauty of the product manager's work. We are truly the ones who get to influence lives by making our surroundings the best they can be and see the fruits of our product team's hard labor when the ideas come to light. This has a double meaning effect for us, as we get to touch other people's lives in many ways.
The pure fun of it all is that there are fundamentals truths about product work, one being that half (or more) of the ideas are bad and the other one is that even the good ideas need iterations until they become a good product. You have to be very passionate about doing the right product and admit those truths in order to deliver products that customers love and bring business value.
Today, I'd like to talk to you about the sheer connection I see with those truths and parenthood (as well as other meaningful relationships you might have in your life). As a life long learner, I passionately read and study all aspects of life, and spend some time pondering the concepts I read about in other aspects. Reading Marty’s book made me feel in love with my profession, and I immediately took that into my parenthood. So what are the parenthood fundamentals truths? well, love your children and give them independence while you support them (but don’t take away their hardships). The truth is that half of your ideas about your children might be bad, and even the good ideas need validation and iterations after they meet the market (AKA — your kids). One way to go is to explore that market and know everything about it, so your suggestions (AKA product) are well received and bring value. Another way to think about it is to treat your kids as part of the product team — your job is to analyze the market/needs and bring them the right questions, while you trust and empower them to solve them in the best manner.
To conclude, bath time has become much more playful at our house, as the kids get to solve the problem of “how to get the kids clean?”. I don’t tell them what they should do, I just bring the right questions to the table.
