Specialization is for insects
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!”
-Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein)
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“Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.”
-Louis L’Amour
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Change can be uncomfortable but it’s also inevitable.
As a product manager you need to embrace the uncertainty.
Hypothesize. Take calculated risks. Stay nimble.
“If you are to have a great kingdom, rule over yourself.”
-Publilius Syrus
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“What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.”
-Lucille Clifton
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No one gets a gold star if you ship a product feature “on time” and it makes things worse.
Don’t make things worse for your clients.
“If you are coasting, it means you are going downhill.”
- C. P. Fulford Jr.
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“No man was ever wise by chance.”
-Seneca
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Your first idea probably isn’t the best one.
Dont be afraid to iterate!
Distraction corrodes progress.
Focus on what’s most important right now.
Whenever you can, grab a dry erase marker and start sketching out what’s in your head.
Encourage others in the conversation to embroider their own supporting or contrary ideas in different colors.
Use giant arrows, capital letters, and underline ad you go.
Get the thinking external.
“Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”
-Bruce Lee
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Remember: sarcasm is a actually a form of thinly veiled aggression.
And how rarely is veiled aggression constructive?
Like Herodotus wrote, we never step in the same river twice.
Everything is constantly changing.
Your job as a product manager is to bring focus and alignment amid the chaos.
Remember to prioritize interoperability over allegiance to specific tools.
A tool-agnostic mindset cultivates resilience and allows your team to pivot without being tied down by specific tooling constraints.
Your job is to build - not worship hammers or wrenches.
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.“
-Albert Einstein
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“Ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s execution that counts.” -Frank Herbert
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Hoarding knowledge might be the supreme anti-pattern.
Remember what Marcus Aurelius wrote:
“Do not expect Plato’s ideal republic; be satisfied with even the smallest step forward, and consider this no small achievement.”
Ours is not a perfect world.
Small steps forward each day - eventually - produce compounded results.
I’ve seen firsthand how well-crafted features can be utter game-changers.
Clarity is essential to both captivate your users and to foster seanless collaboration across your partner teams.
If people are forced to guess what you mean, you’re doing it wrong.