But hypothesizing that positive feedback for a prototype from early adopters is also a market fit can create even bigger problems for the organization, in a matter of product, tech debt, and the wrong culture, believing that you can run a business “cheap” without all the necessary components. Yes, taking your highest risks and validating them with minimum effort is amazing, if you can do it. This is a problem the Lean mentality has tried to fix it has removed the complexity of launching a new idea by motivating you to break your work into smaller deliverables, while the cost of failure seems smaller. If you think about how many steps and efforts are needed to launch a new product successfully, you understand why people choose not to be creative it’s so much energy, with a big risk of failure and disappointment. But what I am missing is more people in product coming up with ideas. It's important to balance creative thinking with analytical thinking and use both to inform your decision-making as a product manager. It's worth noting that being creative doesn't mean that you should ignore data or objective decision-making. You should try to share the problem, not lock them with the solution upfront, and you should ask for early feedback about the feasibility and the risks of your ideas. Try also to figure out which is the core value of the company and you may define a new experience that highlights and drives users to this core service.Īdditionally, collaborating with people from different teams and backgrounds inside your organization can provide valuable insights into your concepts' feasibility and potential risks. To do that, you need to develop a Product Sense, and a good way to do it is by exposing yourself to a variety of products and experiences, both within and outside your field. Thus, you have to start with qualitative data from customer interviews, form your vision, define deliverables, validate them and iterate you should study the competition, start with Why and define clearly the problems you want to solve, and then define the segments you start from.

When you start a new product, you are lucky if you have some data to back you up. Keep a physical notebook with your ideas.ĭon’t forget to get into customers’ shoes. Look for ways to try and validate your ideas without annoying many people. Try to disconnect from day-to-day things to come up with new ideas, Some general principles to increase your creativity are:Ĭreate slots in your calendar just to think or read. It is equally important if you identify a good idea, work on it, and amplify the message You should be the one knowing how to work on a new idea. You are in a position where you communicate with so many people in the company, you get signals, ideas, and context. The best way to gain traction is to create a story and start pitching it, and you can ask for resources to run some validations.ĭon’t expect the ideas to be necessarily yours. Initially, it’s only you, maybe with some employees that share your passion. Think about what you would do if you were an entrepreneur with a nice idea. You must find ways to validate your ideas with as few resources as possible. Adapting to the culture of your organization, you may need to come up with something more mature or validated, or you may realize you need to quit to make it happen.ĭon’t spend resources on your ideas early on. Keep your record, write down your ideas, and try to find ways to validate them before bringing them to your manager or your colleagues. You should avoid three things:ĭon’t come up with new ideas all the time. This means avoiding the temptation of constantly coming up with new ideas without considering their feasibility or value. To increase your creativity as a product manager, it's important to adopt the right attitude.

Manager toolkit