A B2B Product Management story:

-New product idea
-PM diligently talks to customers about whether such a product will solve their problems
-All say “yes”
-PM reports findings to exec team, gets staffing for the product
-First version launched
-Hardly any customer adopts it

1/22
2/22
At the first product review post-launch:
-PM directs attention towards positives, says “Here’s what we’ve learned”
-Learnings usually include “Our MVP isn’t sufficient. need to make it easier to implement/adopt. Need features X, Y, Z”
-PM gets mandate to build said features
3/22
Fast forward 2 or 3 quarters:
-Features X, Y, Z built.
-But adoption is still anemic.

At next product review:
-Sales/Marketing start getting implicated
-PM says: “We know from talking to customers that we have the right product. We need to improve our Go-To-market strategy”
4/22

-Executives & the PM are “pot-committed” at this point.
-Ideas about how to better sell the product are discussed: reduce prices, cross-sell, bundle, email campaigns, re-organize Sales team, etc.
-Changes are made.

Fast forward 2 or 3 quarters:
-Adoption still anemic https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📉" title="Chart with downwards trend" aria-label="Emoji: Chart with downwards trend">
5/22

-By this time, original PM has left the team
-A new PM joins. Starts with a “customer listening tour” in first 90 days
-Identifies issues that previous PM missed/ignored
-Presents new findings & recommendations to the executive team
-Gets mandate to execute on revised plan
6/22
Now what?
-Go back to tweet #3
-Repeat these steps a couple more times & then....

Ultimately:
-Executive team decides to sunset the product
-Learnings are captured and shared widely in the org
-"We haven& #39;t failed, we have learned"
-Of course, Edison is quoted at some point
7/22
So, what really happened here?

Many possible reasons for this saga, but the most common ones:

(A) The product should not have been built in the first place

(B) The original product was ill-conceived & all subsequent choices/pivots had to inherit this original sin
8/22

(B) has been covered elsewhere in Product Management literature, so let’s talk about (A) today in what remains of this thread
9/22
Daniel Kahneman:
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”

The Focusing Illusion, adapted to the business world:
“Nothing in business is as important as it actually is, while you are talking about it.”

That is the REAL problem.
10/22
When you talk to a customer about a specific problem, they will naturally “focus” on that problem, at the exclusion of other problems they (or their business overall) is facing.

With this focus comes a disproportionate emphasis on solving THAT specific problem.
11/22
Hence the customer’s initial excitement about your possible product solution.

Hence also the tepid response and adoption once you’ve built said product.
12/22
The focus of your early discussion was on the problem, solution space, & willingness to buy

But when the customer is FORCED to prioritize the implementation of your product vs. every other problem they are facing it is no longer a theoretical “would you use this?” exercise
14/22
How to overcome this?

First, be objective. A surprisingly high proportion of PMs view customer interviews as a way to confirm or justify their product ideas or to solidify an exec’s mandate.

Don’t pooh-pooh this as not applicable to you.

None of us are immune to this.
15/22
Second, after you’ve talked to a customer about a specific problem & possible solutions you could build, ask them to stack rank the problem being discussed vs. the other problems they are trying to solve for their business & org.

This is where the real truth will emerge.
16/22
This Customer Problems Stack Rank will act as a great test of the TRUE priority of the customer problem & the product solution you’re discussing.

If you can, take this a step further. Get the CPSR from multiple Personas touched by your product: VP Support, VP Marketing...
17/22
A surprisingly high number of failed B2B products shouldn’t have been built in the first place.

This isn& #39;t Hindsight Bias.

To the discerning product eye, this can be quite clear upfront, before a single line of code is written.
18/22
In our industry, “trying to find Product-Market fit” is viewed as a rational, noble, laudable effort. It& #39;s an Apple Pie Position.

There& #39;s nothing inherently wrong with taking years to seek P-M-fit.

But recognize that it need not be the default way of building products.
19/22
While Good Product Managers detect this later in the product’s lifecycle, Great Product Managers can determine this well in advance.

They do it with a critical evaluation of what truly matters for customers. This is hardly magic, but it is common sense that isn’t common.
20/22
Being a Product Manager is a major responsibility.

The rigor in your thinking & the purity of your intentions can dictate whether tens of thousands of hours of eng, design, ops, mktg, sales,.. collective efforts end up as a sheer waste or lead to something meaningful.
21/22
As with most hard things in life & business, there’s no silver bullet here

But just as it does in life, the Focusing Illusion can & does affect us in business. It& #39;s one of the major culprits behind products that were actually DOA but no one recognized them as such early on
22/22
So whether you’re a PM, a product leader, or an executive:

Understand the Focusing Illusion, recognize its power, remind yourself that you aren’t immune to it, & use tools like the Customer Problems Stack Rank to help yourself & your customers combat it.

All the best!
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📈" title="Chart with upwards trend" aria-label="Emoji: Chart with upwards trend">
This B2B Product Management Story is now available as a LinkedIn article.

Check it out if you missed it earlier, and feel free to share with your colleagues & friends that aren& #39;t on Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/b2b-product-management-story-shreyas-doshi/">https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/b2b...
You can follow @shreyas.
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