This may come off a little idealistic, but I am a firm believer in focusing on user experience and real consumer problems when creating products.
I recently came across this awesome presentation from UC Berkeley professor Sara Beckman on product development*, which reinforces why Product Managers should “forget about personal problems and worry about customers lives.” Like she says, the important thing is NOT why you personally want to use this product or why you think it’s cool. Instead, you should be thinking about why your customer would rather use your product, rather than any other product.
Many companies fall into the trap of making profit and forgetting about their consumers. When times are good, they can get away with this. When times are tough, however, things can get ugly really quickly when you stop innovating or focusing on consumers. This is why having PMs who live and breathe what their customers need and how to solve their problems will make any company more successful than their competitors.
*unfortunately this awesome presentation has been taken down from the website.
