Product Management Starter Kit

When good engineers suffer from lousy management, they may do all this exciting stuff that makes sense on a micro level, but on a macro level, they make no sense. As a result, these things often get thrown out.

Focusing is not about saying yes to every great idea. Focusing is about saying no. The result of that type of focus is some really great products where the total is greater than the sum of the parts.

We get used to everyday things. One of the most basic ways humans learn is by a process called habituation. Our brain encodes the daily things we do into habits so we can free up space to learn new things. 

Habituations is not always bad. Take learning to drive. At first, all your nervous attention is focused on the wheel, the cars, the lights, the pedestrians. but with time, it becomes easier and easier. You habituated it.

Other times, habituation isn't good. It stops us from noticing the problems around us or fixing them.

There are invisible problems all around us, ones we can solve if we can just notice them.

Tips to fight habituation:

• Look broader. When you're tackling a problem, there are often many steps that lead up to the problem. When you step back, you can change some of the stages before you get to a problem, combine them, or even remove them.
• Look closer. When we focus on the little details we may otherwise not notice, ask, "Are they important, or is it the way we've always done it?" Maybe there's a better way.
• Think younger. Young minds often ask tons of questions and then attempt to solve them.