Into the unknown
By: Sivan Yaron-Enden
Tags: Product Management, Corona

Into the unknown

Product in the time of Corona

Product managers need to handle ambiguity. We are never really sure if the product we are building is the right fit for the market. We check the competition, validate hypotheses, measure and A/B test but there is always some element that remains unknown as we are handling prediction of the future. We assume we know who will use our products and how they will use them. We think we can predict their needs and wishes and can provide the answers to them.

David Hume explained to us in 1739 that the problem of induction is that we think that the past predicts the future, though we have no guarantee of that. Bertrand Russel further visualised it when he described how the chicken that was fed each day by the farmer was surprised the day the farmer came to wring its neck. Even though we know there are unexpected events and surprises out there, we live our lives and plan our products based on past behaviour, as this is the best dataset we have.

But sometimes life happens when you’re busy making other plans. Not always as big as COVID-19 (aka Corona) crisis, but in small pieces reality is not always as we expected, and we find out that in a way, we are all chickens. It is a survival mechanism to think that the past will predict the future, but what do we do when it doesn’t?

Elsa embracing the unknown, Frozen II

Being a product manager means being in charge of the roadmap and the direction of your products. While this may be challenging in a regular time, it proves to be much more when the reality changes drastically. What can we do differently in these times?

Prioritise. Remember all these little tasks you have on your table, exploration of different directions your product can take? Now is the time to brutally prioritise them. Your resources have probably changed, and not for the good. Your team now has to work from home, to care for kids and the house in the same time and retain productivity. Clear your tasks and focus on the really important one. Communicate clearly. When you are in the office, if someone misunderstood you, they can chat with you next to the coffee machine or catch you in the elevator. But now, when we are working remotely, not necessarily in the same time, clear written communication is important. Your team and your colleagues should be able to go back to an email or a ticket that has a clear description of what will be done or what you expect them to do, even if they can’t chat with you. Emails instead of meetings. Meetings with large number of attendees don’t work all that well over VC. There is the guy that has problem connecting and the other one that forgot to mute. If the purpose of the meeting is to share information with a large audience, try emailing it. Don’t disappear. While keeping with the last point, you should not go to the extreme isolation of disappearing. Your team should still see you and you should be there for them. Schedule some smaller meetings for your team members or 1:1 synchs. Share what you are working on and be responsive to their queries. Empathise. People are accepting this change differently. Some may have sick relatives, need to care for elderly parents, or have kids that they need to occupy. Try to be patient and help where you can. We are all in this together.

We are just at the beginning and this is only temporary, this too shall pass and we will go back to working in open space offices with so many meetings to fill our days, but perhaps there is an opportunity hiding here. An opportunity for some paradigm shifts. The world is behaving completely different than it did a few weeks ago. Does that mean our users’ needs have changed, that our users have changed? Could there actually be an opportunity for a whole new line of solutions in this situation?

Remote video calls are blooming as well as the delivery services (so far) and the web is filled with creative ideas on what to do with stay-at-home kids. There are new needs arising and new solutions that can answer them. Let’s not be chickens and look the farmer in the eye when he comes, let’s face this change with the best creative minds we can gather.

As the great almighty Monty Python said: “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise, fear and surprise; two chief weapons, fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency! Er, among our chief weapons are: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and near fanatical devotion to the Pope!”

Stay focused, efficient and most important- stay healthy.