What is Product Thinking?

There is a buzz-word that's been floating around companies for a while now, well I guess technically it's a buzz-term, anyway the term is "product thinking." So what the heck is product thinking, and why should you care?

Well, to put it simply product thinking is simply starting with the why in mind before going forward with any idea. Think about it, every product in the world started out to solve a problem. From the simplest product, like a chair; to the most complex like a pacemaker. Someone at some point thought to themselves, My legs are tired from standing, I'd like a comfortable place to sit and rest them. The solution of the chair was to solve the problem of legs being tired from standing. The why is really clear in this situation. The interesting thing is that there are literally thousands of different types of chairs to choose from in the world. Why? Because there are so many different problems that can be solved by a chair. It's not just my legs are tired from standing, it's also, my back hurts when I sit in this position, or I need to be able to easily swivel around to talk to a coworker, or perhaps, I'm really tall and these chairs are all too short for my stature. All of these problems are solved by different chairs, or different features in chairs.

The same is true in almost all business situations. Think about the last time your leader asked you to make something. Did you ask enough questions to identify the "why" behind the request? Did you REALLY understand WHY you were making that thing? After it was built, did you know if it worked to solve the problem in the first place?

Throughout my career I've been asked to build or create many "things". Unfortunately, at the time of the request I failed to ask what problem they were trying to solve. Then after my team and I had built it, "it" didn't produce the effects my leader thought it would. Sometimes to the point that we ended up throwing the "thing" away. THAT IS SO FRUSTRATING!

So, here's a really easy way to start yourself down the product thinking journey. The next time you are asked to build something, or better yet, the next time you have an idea; first stop and ask:

• What problem is this solving?

• After I build it, how will I know it solved the problem?

• Before I build it, what other solutions have been considered?

That's it. If you don't have the answers to those questions, don't build it.

Real world example:

My wife and I homeschool our kids. As part of their homeschooling they are part of a co-op that is run and taught by the parents. This year my wife was elected to be part of the admin committee that runs the co-op including scheduling, events, class flow, etc. Recently after a meeting with the other admins of the co-op she asked me if I would build a website for her co-op. Here's how that conversation went:

Stacie: "Hey sweetheart, would you be able to build a website for our co-op?"

Me: "Yep! However, can I ask why?"

Stacie: "Well, we need a place for people to go to complete forms for events and registration and stuff like that."

Me: "Are you wanting people not in the co-op to be able to find these forms and fill them out?"

Stacie: "No, probably not"

Me: "Are you wanting to use this as a way to garner interest in other families joining the co-op?"

Stacie: "No, we've already got a huge waiting list, just from word of mouth."

Me: "So if I were to create a couple of online forms that you could send out to the families in your co-op, and have sent to you via email after they're completed, would that solve your problem?"

Stacie: "Yeah, that would be great!"

Power: "Awesome! We could use something like jotform, or google forms, and do that for really cheap or even free depending on the number of submissions."

• What problem is it solving? - A way to have families in the co-op complete forms

• After I build it how will I know it solved the problem? - An easy way to see who has completed forms, and what each submission contained

• Before I build it, what other solutions have been considered? - none. After our discussion however, it looks like this problem could be solved with just an online form tool.