Notes

  • March 10, 2024

    Product managers are portrayed to be custodians of a product, nested within some sort of multi-functionary network of dependent relationships.

    Experts also speak of mini CEOs, managing the lifecycle, setting priorities, problem-solving, balancing needs of users, business, technology, research work, stakeholder management, and ultimately, leading without authority.

    To me, the more I assess my workdays, the more I’m led to believe it comes down to a never-ending story of calculated decision making.

  • February 25, 2024

    Addressing the significance of a Product Requirements Document (PRD) in product development may seem elementary, yet it's often overlooked or left insufficient.

    This artefact outlines the vision, feature list, priorities, scope, risks, and purpose for the team and beyond. It becomes a living document, a communication tool, a source of truth, and the glue that keeps people on the same page.

    I must admit, I have been guilty of negligence when it comes to the PRD. I therefore say, for the sake of humanity, this document needs to be signed-off before commissioning a project. If not, I’d advise brushing up on a few seasons of Law & Order, Boston Legal, or Suits.

  • January 29, 2024

    When we build anything, it is imperative that we have a vision. That vision becomes a blueprint that guides the project.

    When we hurry through the process, we risk building for the short term with a somewhat inferior foundation. Inevitably, the pressure to accommodate more value within its compromised structure increases exponentially as the product grows.

    We need to think long and slow before committing to development. Perhaps heed Albert Einstein - “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions”.

  • December 1, 2023

    “When the listener is totally present, the speaker often communicates differently…Sometimes we block the flow of information being offered and compromise on true listening. Our critical mind may kick in, taking note of what we agree with and what we don’t, or what we like and dislike. We may look for reasons to distrust the speaker or make them wrong.

    Formulating an opinion is not listening. Neither is preparing a response, or defending our position or attacking another’s. To listen impatiently is to hear nothing at all.”

    - Rick Rubin

    I couldn’t agree more. Often, we evaluate, decide, and formulate before the information we receive is given an opportunity to be considered. We listen to judge and respond, hardly ever to consume and comprehend.

  • November 15, 2023

    We must adopt a child-like curiosity in product development. We fill gaps in understanding with cultivated assumptions based on our personal biases and experiences.

    Children have the luxury of no preconceived notions, limited experiential exposure, and therefore exhibit an openness to question the obvious, the very obvious adults take for granted.

    It’s really the ‘silly’ questions that make a profound impact.

  • October 15, 2023

    I dare say that the amount of help resources we create for our products is a good indication of its level of usability.

    That does not mean the absence of helpful content is a sign of great product work either.

    I just mean that the more dependent we are on users learning how to adapt to a product, the further we are from building something truly worthwhile.

  • October 01, 2023

    I’ve always believed that a product is built with the implicit understanding that it will be improved upon. There is always a functionality, an experience, or a metric that can be pushed a little further.

    Product development is about building and updating a product to address the evolving needs of users, extending it across segments or borders in the interest of growth.

    But, when saturation creeps in and innovation begins to dry up, it’s not just the product that needs to evolve.

  • September 15, 2023

    You’d think that most people would appreciate change, especially when it’s for the better. But, just because it’s better does not mean it’s necessarily welcome.

    Somehow, change is interconnected with peoples comfort zones and vested interests. When these spaces are threatened by the possibility of change, people don’t always react positively.

    It’s almost as if change is encouraged to knock, just as long as it’s at someone else’s door when it doesn’t suit us.

  • August 30, 2023

    For some time now, I’ve been struggling to understand the relationship between people and elevators.

    We have the affordance, we have the signifier. Yet, some of us call the elevator to us and others tell the elevator in which direction they wish to go.

    It wasn’t supposed to be rocket science. Yet, I’m consistently greeted by the all too familiar, “Is it going up or down?”.

    Interpretation is such a crucial part of design. While we can plan for almost every obvious circumstance, there is always someone who sees it differently.

  • June 9, 2023

    Minimalism is the absence of distraction for the sake of clarity, purpose, and focus. As a lifestyle if encourages us to seek simplicity and meaning over consumerism. It guides us to be truly appreciative of what matters most - relationships, peace, experiences, time, space, and so on.

    In design too, it is the omission of the non-essential. It is a conscious decision and a difficult path at that. It demands restraint, confidence, and concerted effort. It drives us to make mindful choices, to focus on outcomes over sophistication and tradition.

  • August 10, 2023

    I created my first social media account more than a decade ago. To me, it served as a mechanism to share updates, stories, and memories with the people I considered important to me.

    But, somehow as humans, we’ve turned an incredible opportunity to connect into a disruptive path to instigate, tarnish, bully, cheat, mislead, and more. We’ve managed to create alternate realities, divide ourselves, and inspire distrust.

    When I think of impressionable minds being subjected to idealism, aggression, destruction, and just plain stupidity, it worries me. Worse, algorithms endorse content that keeps users engaged. Strangely, audiences are drawn to aggression, violence, sex, and division.

    That motivates more production of trending content and the vicious circle continues, expanding with every iteration.

    The solution lies at the brittle intersection of personal creative freedom, choice, and business value. Ironically, these very concepts may have been the foundation on which the good intentions of social media were built on in the first place.

  • July 25, 2023

    Ignorance and negligence are acceptance to those who hide behind checkboxes.

    Checkboxes are sometimes mischief-makers in our digital explorations. They can get us into hot water with unwelcome emails, sales calls, malware, and mysterious subscriptions.

    Very often, they hide in plain sight with dark intentions nested in extended documentation. Most people do not change the defaults, preferring to believe that we live in an ideal world.

    So, who do we blame - the business that disclose their intentions for us to peruse albeit with some difficulty, or us, for being so gung-ho to dive in that we just crossed our fingers and hope for the best?