Why I love products?
If I were to think of a purpose for my life then it would be to create a better world and among all the possible ways to do it with, I would want to do it with Great Products.
Products solve Problems
I have always thought of myself as a Problem Solver, that I knew at an age of 10. I always liked solving all sort of problems but I was a very lazy guy who got easily bored. Every time I was asked to do something, I would start imagining ways to do it with lesser effort or automating the process behind it.
But I am sure we all imagine those solutions to our problems which would make them disappear. Calvin has been a great example of this human tendency.
Products Inspire
I always found technology inspiring. I always found new ways to use technology to achieve my goals. I always believed that what people around me lack is inspiration and only if I can inspire them a little, I could help them be a better version of themselves.
At some point I was introduced to the idea of Apple and Steve Jobs. The kind of impact Apple products had on people amazed me. People around me aspired to become worthy of buying an Apple device. That was probably my first introduction to the idea of building great products.
Products make life easier
I had first two of my jobs in content. I was supposed to create problems for students to solve and so were my co-workers. But apart from dealing with the important part of conjecturing interesting problems for school kids we were dealing with a lot of secondary responsibilities which were really boring.
Being the lazy guy I am, I started solving each one of them individual problems using hacks and tools provided by Microsoft word. Within my two months at the job I have come up with an entire suite of things that could make our job easier. When we implemented those solutions across the team we reduced our delivery time in half.
This was also my first introduction to creating products that could be used by other people to make their life easier.
Why shall I be making Products?
While I had been an entrepreneur, while had written code and developed a web application I still wasn’t sure about my career. I wasn’t a full fledged web developer, I had just learnt what I needed to solve my problem. I wasn’t a designer, I could use a few tools to get things done but it wasn’t enough to be paid for. I wasn’t a sales person or a marketer, I just wasn’t good at selling stuff. I wasn’t a customer service guy, I just couldn’t talk to people for an entire day.
I loved products but I didn’t know how could I help the people who made them. I was an enabler, I could help each of those people do their job better but I couldn’t be them.
Being a Product Manager
Have you ever had an epiphany? I did. While I was struggling with the question about what I could do to help make things that inspire me, I ended up reading Inspired by Marty Cagan.
I remember, I was sitting in a hospital by the side of my uncle with my phone in my hand read that book. And he introduced a role to me. Everything he said that person should do, I could do and I had been doing it. It was like, my entire life I was preparing to be that guy. That role was of a Product Manager.
How to make Great Products?
My experience with products is still pretty small to make big comments about things. But every problem I have been trying to solve, I have imagined a vision of a beautiful future enabled by the products I built. Whether it be empowering students to take control of their education, be it to bring about a green revolution by enabling people to adopt plants or to empower customers to define what products shall be built for them.
The fact that small changes brought by simple products can actually change how the world around us works is what allows us to build Great Products and that is the kind of Products I will like to build and be proud of.
