Product Trauma

Some thought leaders use “hub and spoke” imagery to describe the Product function in organizations.

Product sits at the center of a networked web, observing and sensing vibes.

The role involves an emotional aspect (i.e. empathy for users/stakeholders) and intellect (i.e. analytical sense-making) to synthesize and communicate observations into a user story which persuades or describes a problem that moves people into action.

I’ve described the Product function as the “heart and brain”; it’s supposed to do the thinking and feeling.

Finding Product talent that has the interest and ability to do emotional and cognitive labor on behalf of colleagues can be…complicated.

• It’s easy to suffer knowledge blindness (“how DID I get this superpower?”)
• It’s easy to ignore the obvious, most common-sense feature (i.e. “low-hanging fruit”).
• It’s easy to drift from the vision (“why ARE we doing this?”)

It’s also easy to be cynical.

It’s critical for thinking-and-feeling product people to maintain community, keep score, and accept the good.