Is it all about the "user"? Some nuances

Tom Hosiawa • 3 min read

Is it all about the “user”?
Some nuances of what it means to serve the “user.”
It doesn’t mean, focus all on them and put little curiosity into the other aspects of your company.

The nuances:

If you design and build the perfect product. The perfect service. The perfect experience. The users will come. Sorry, but no, they won’t!

So do you really have users if they don’t know your product exists?

To serve the user, you must understand how to get them aware, interested, curious, try your product. You serve the user by designing the marketing and sales as great as your product.
If you design and build the perfect product. The money will come. Sorry, but no, it won’t!
So what happens to your users when you don’t make enough money? Hmmm, do you really still have users if you can’t pay your team’s next paycheck???

To serve the user, you must balance the user’s needs with increasing their willingness to pay you and how much. You design a way to sustain your ability to pay your team’s salary and ~~keep~~ grow your users.

The a-ha moments that helped me recognize the mindset shift I had to make.
To serve the user, you have to shift your mindset from your job, your team’s function, your product, to your organization.

The difference between a junior & senior product manager is how they think about scope and impact.

A good junior PM thinks about how to improve the prospects of their product.

A good senior PM thinks about how to improve the company’s prospects with their product.
— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) January 18, 2021

The more senior you get as a product manager, the broader you have to aim the scope of your impact. As a junior PM you start of improving features then graduate to improving products.

As a senior PM you want to change the trajectory of the organization and eventually the company
— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) April 8, 2021

A Shopify designer’s quote

To understand other teams’ perspectives, read about their domain. At Shopify, business leaders share their favourite business books with designers, and designers share their design books with business leaders.