Think or Go Home

It’s been said that most men would rather die than think. Scary, but true. Not that people are violently against thinking. Just that thinking requires effort while expiring doesn’t. Most folks would also rather zone out, pig out, or watch Oprah than think as well. These folks are not bad, just a wee bit lazy at times. Or simply uninformed.

Complacency of this nature must be guarded against as you run your product or business. You will encounter many people who unknowingly prefer Oprah gaping to productive cogitating. They may not realize this. As the leader of your business, it’s your job to gently, but directly, train them to consider more than their professional navel.

Dynamics of this nature can occur as one specialist, trying to reach the pinnacle of his specialty, neglects to consider (think) about the ramifications of his efforts on the balance of the business. This can result in a net loss to your business in terms of value adding productivity.

For instance, as a product manager, if I think that uber accurate market information will lead to all other goodness with my product, it’s not exclusively bad. But if I commandeer the engineering troops for many hours each day to help refine market research tools and trap the best possible info, then I impinge upon their ability to work their engineering mojo.

In doing so, I may drive added value to the market research function, but more than off-set it with losses to engineering productivity. I’ve now produced a net loss to the product or business. Nice job. No bonus for me.

This is called opportunity-cost consideration. As a PM, you should be aware of it. The people on your team must be as well. They must think about the value they add relative to the value they may remove elsewhere. Otherwise, they’ll continue on their merry way, perfecting their corner of the universe, while cannibalizing their brethren. And if they don’t / won’t / can’t think about this, then you must. Otherwise, go home. That’s where the TV and couch are, right?