Thread · 5 min read

Destined to Fail: A B2B Product Management Story

Shreyas Doshi · X (Twitter) Free Intermediate

Doshi tells a visual, concrete story about a team that built for a problem customers said they had, but that was never actually near the top of the customer's own priority list, which is the trap you fall into if you collect feedback without weighing it. It is a fast read that sharpens exactly the judgment call the short answer asks for: which one product decision a week is worth making from what you heard.

  • A stated customer problem still needs to be checked against their real priority list.
  • Customers routinely voice problems that are not actually urgent for them.
  • Rank problems by the customer's own priorities before you commit engineering time.
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The question it answers

  1. How do I keep learning from customers after launch instead of only doing research once at the start?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. A short, practical field guide to customer discovery: who to talk to, how to find them, and how many. Pairs perfectly with The... talkingtohumans.com Book · ~80 pages (free PDF available) Talking to Humans Giff Constable
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres
  5. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
  6. Video · About 3 minutes Steve Blank: Want Your Startup to Succeed? Get Out of the Building Steve Blank (Inc. Magazine)
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