Good Information Leads to Good Decisions

Good information leads to good decisions is an aviation axiom. The corollary of this is that poor information leads to poor decisions. The unspoken but all-too-important point is that poor decisions can lead to tragic consequences when it comes to flying airplanes.

If good information leading to good decisions is at the forefront of the decision making process in an arena in which the consequence of failure may be catastrophic, then why would this reasoning be less than applicable in the role of a product manager? The answer is… it’s not.

While it’s true that good information does not guarantee good decisions, nor do good decisions guarantee good results, the fact is that this line of reasoning does improve the odds that good results will ensue. The alternative is to leave good results strictly to chance. This is NOT something one does when staving off gravity, nor should it be the norm when facing down critical business decisions.

Another way to look at this is to say that when decisions need to be made, information, data, and facts should normally win out over theory, speculation, or feeling. Granted, there are times when this prioritization may not be true, but across the set of decisions product managers make over the course of their careers, it constitutes best practice the majority of the time.

So how do product managers acquire good information – or at least the best information available? The same way pilots do… through research. In the case of product managers this means tapping into customer feedback, analyst reports, competitive intelligence, financial information, third-party publications, and any other source of data which can be compiled and intelligently applied within a decision framework.

In conducting research, the PM must be aware that there is no such thing as perfect information. And if one were to spend an unlimited amount of time trying to acquire perfect information, said PM would get nothing else done. As a result, there comes a point where the opportunity cost of doing more research is superseded by the need to make a decision and take action. Understanding where this point occurs is something that comes with product management experience and refinement over time.

Thus, good - but not perfect - information leads to good - but not perfect - decisions. This is what solid product managers should strive for. Given time and repetition under the guise of this premise, product managers who exercise their decisions in this manner will generate increasingly well run and successful products. And in the final analysis, isn’t that the goal?