Sins of Innovation
The Seven Deadly Ones, courtesy of Marketoonist.
This is hilarious — in a "it's funny because it's true" kind of painful way 😂
I've seen all of these play out over my years in tech and product management. Some quick observations about the current state of affairs:
Lust: Just add #AI to it
Envy: What’s your pricing model?
Gluttony: Enterprise buyers are guilty of it as much as enterprise software vendors
Greed: Misuse of tech-debt, anyone?
Sloth: My condolences if you work in a SAFe environment
Pride: The CxO’s conceit of executive-driven features
Wrath: The tech layoffs of the past 2 years
These “sins'“ mostly have predictable results, but unfortunately the way to combat them — the path of considered reason and second-order effects — is far slower and not as exciting.
Still, the companies that take the time to think and consider their approach are doing much better, and it's my hope that this will become more and more prevalent as the importance of product management rises over time.
What can you do as a product manager or leader? Again, a few quick quips:
Take a deep breath
Practice your soft-skills
Read the books, listen to the blogs
Practice self-care, go for a walk in the park.
In particular, read
’s Beautiful Mess — and do read his PSA!Study topics outside of product management and your specific domain. Cross-pollinate. Try Farnam Street’s excellent The Knowledge Project podcast and Shane Parrish’s books about mental models. You’d be amazed how insights from parenting to Olympic sports to investment can translate into useful nuggets in your day job, if you take a moment to reflect.
And when you’re back at your desk — get subversive. As in, be subversively helpful, using positive attitude and language to subtly change the conversation, and thus perceptions, from the inside.
In short, sharpen your saw (like Einstein thinking about the problem, not like a psycho in the woods — even though the return to office policies may make you feel like it 😜), and prepare for a long road. Do what your business requires of you, even if it isn’t always what you perceive is best (remember, there may always be aspects you’re not seeing!).
Take care of yourself and chip away at the problem over time. Remember the old adage: first the ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they fight you; and then you win. It takes a long time, but it affects societal and organisational change.