Love the problem more than your solution | Product Management

(An article by Ash Maurya)
🔗https://lnkd.in/dKjccwAQ

Some lessons that I take from the article are:

📌 Initially, it is more important for one to focus on understanding the problem and not the solution that one is attached to.

A product/market fit solution (*a product that fits amazingly well with what the customers need in a sustainable way) can often only be attained after going through multiple iterations of updating the product to suit the customers’ need.

Therefore, initially, it doesn’t seem wise to push the solution that one is attached to as it is most probably going to evolve a lot (that is if it does work out.)

📌 The goal is to build customers and not the glorification of the product or the solution.

Which does seem to align with some of my posts on marketing with the main theme being that good marketing seeks to uplift the spirit of the user who has to do a job using the product. (Here is the link to it: https://lnkd.in/dxAAyBsc)

An example is Johnson’s baby’s celebration of motherhood or Apple’s support towards those who want to change the world. And that good marketing is not just limited to describing the specifications or features of the product.

📌 How avoiding failure reduces the chances of a breakthrough.

Since, the whole process of attaining a product/market fit* is centred around going through multiple iterations of improving the product (pivoting) to suit the users’ needs.

Therefore, one failure makes way for improvement in the next iteration. Which eventually results in a product that users can love and be grateful for. Resulting in the birth of regular users of the product.

From the article:

“Starting with a solution is like building a key without knowing what door it will open. You can try testing your key on lots of doors or you can start with a door you want to open. When you fall in love with the problem, versus your solution, you start building keys to doors that actually take you places.”