Our products and experiences should focus on the user. It starts with understanding their problems and their needs. In my case, the fact that I was uncomfortable backing a trailer into a tight spot. From there, we focus on helping the user create the right outcome. Getting into the camping spot. Making simple shapes. So don’t make the mistake of getting the experience backwards. It’s not about the trailer, it’s about the driver.

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Often the best ideas, products, or experiences aren’t the ones we’re actively looking for. They are the ones that come together when hard work and luck meet. Serendipity. What are some examples of serendipity in invention and product creation? How can we use serendipity?

Book: Range
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Innovation is messy. Because of that, there are many myths that have been built around innovation and innovators. In the book The Myths of Innovation, Scott Berkun does a great job of addressing many of those myths. It’s a great read for product people, since we are often at the forefront of innovation, creating the next generation of products and experiences for users, breaking ground on technology that hasn’t been tried. We know the myths better than most. And fall victim to many of the myths. So it’s great to look at the examples in this book and remember that the process is messy, and there is no single right way to innovate.

Book: The Myths of Innovation
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As product people (and as parents) we need to empathize with our users (and kids). It’s not about the feature, or taking one more turn, it’s about getting one more good outcome. Sometimes we have to shift our perspective to remember that.

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If you ever find yourself repeating the phrase “this is how it’s always been done” or “this is how we do it here”, that’s a good time to pause and ask yourself if you’ve got yourself a ritual cat. Good products don’t come from teams steeped in useless rituals. We use good frameworks and good processes, but we aren’t tied to them without a purpose. We use them for the outcomes they bring us to.

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What we need is to adopt a 5 Whys mindset to problems. Once we get past the initial problem, we can start to understand the root cause or the real need. And that’s when we can start to get to the heart of the problem and create real meaningful solutions for our teams, our businesses, and our users.

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Planting trees is about the long term. But it's easy to get caught up in short-term thinking. Our businesses and organizations often prioritize the short-term at expense of the long-term. Which is why we never get the trees, but always get project after project. And in 5 years we look back and wonder why we don't have any shade or fruit.

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In this episode, we review Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. I know firsthand that we could all learn a thing or two from Amazon’s way of working and solving problems. It’s not perfect (and neither is Amazon). But the principles create a great foundation for any team or company to build on. And Amazon consistently out-innovates and outperforms most companies. So they’re clearly doing some things right.

Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
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We use the term “innovation” way too frequently. It’s become too diluted in our modern business world. But if we focus on the right definition, we can get back to bringing real innovations back to our teams and our companies. We can create products, processes and experiences that are truly new, better, and valuable.

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A product manager brings all of those things together. She talks to users before, during, and after the team develops a product. She makes sure there is a good business for what they built. And she works with the developers to build the thing and get it out to people to use.

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