Notes on Product Development Process?
“When a number of people concentrate on a single thought, they can compel the world to accept it.” — Paramahansa Yogananda
“What is your Product Development Process?” - I’ve been asked this question several times lately—including during the ELC podcast.
I’ve always been an engineering person. Systems, infrastructure, APIs—that’s the way my brain was wired. My interest in product and users started early at LinkedIn. Perhaps I was influenced by my product partner there - Allen Blue, who was one of the co-founders and amazingly forward looking product visionary. Somewhere in those early cycles it clicked: we do what we do in service of our users—whether those users are developers, end users, or enterprise customers. That realization pulled me from “just engineering” into caring about product outcomes. And yet, at the start, I was a complete novice at product (and truthfully probably still am).
I read the usual suspects (The Lean Startup, Competing Against Luck, The Mom Test, and a mountain of blogs) about experiments, rapid iteration, speed, listening to customers, etc. Yet the truth is that a lot of product and company building is about luck—and if you play the lottery long enough, sometimes you win and the technique was perhaps less important than professed. At some point I came to a realization: there is no such thing as “finding” product‑market fit beyond random luck. There is only compelling the world to accept your vision of the future.
So, here’s how I think abut the product product development process today:
1. Imagine the future
Think of yourself as a sci‑fi writer. Imagine the future you want to see. In detail and with maximum nuance. Feel it, smell it, live it, write about it (for yourself mostly). This is not entirely a logical process. Works of art don’t come from the mind alone; they come from the soul. The more exact, detailed, and precise the imagination—the better. The approach works not only for big ideas, but also for small problems, design decisions and similar challenges. Try it. Obviously, you need a background in the field so your imagination has grounding.
Where this can go wrong:
The idea isn’t yours. Works of art are not a collective exercise. We often adopt other people’s ideas unconsciously—we are imitators by design (see René Girard’s mimetic theory). Your founding team can absolutely enhance and improve the idea—just don’t confuse where it came from. Maybe the product idea isn’t yours, but you came up with a technological solution that makes it work—that’s OK, join the team. The worst failure mode is convincing yourself you like someone else’s idea on logical merits when you’re not passionate about it. If you’re going to be a mercenary, be honest about it—and love the craft of being a mercenary.
The idea isn’t well envisioned. It’s a fleeting, fuzzy thought. The world can’t materialize a fuzzy image. This failure mode often happens to non-technical people or when we simply don’t yet have a necessary background to be able to imagine the end product in a precise enough detail.
It’s purely cerebral. A product born only from logic usually isn’t art. You need conviction that lives below the neck.
2. Test it
Pitch it to your smartest friends, as well as to friends not in the field. Stress‑test it from different angles. Run experiments to prove or disprove your thinking. Is the idea actually new in the first place or you just didn’t bother to do basic research? Think like an investor; evaluate it as you would an investment pitch. This is the logical part. Is the technology feasible? Is the timeframe right? You have to allow some uncertainty, perhaps a lot of uncertainty. You will hear many “no”s and there will never be enough data. But there should be a threshold of probability you can settle on—and then decide.
Where this can go wrong:
No serious scrutiny. Less of an issue with startups, but a very common failure mode in large companies. Apply VC‑type scrutiny: explicit assumptions (why, why now, why this team, how is it different, what category are we creating or capturing, how do we solve the distribution). Even for small projects - do this, it can be done very quickly with modern tools.
Never‑ending search for 100% conviction. It doesn’t exist. Set the risk level you can carry and move.
3. Focus on it
This is about compelling the world to accept your vision. It requires assembling as many smart, values‑aligned people as you can and maintaining persistent focus on execution. This is also the place where much traditional advice can work—to an extent.
Where this can go wrong:
Insufficient critical mass of smart people, or settling for the wrong, mediocre team (or a team of mercenaries) that isn’t excited or hasn’t adopted the idea almost as a new religion. I have yet to hear from anyone that they have a mediocre team (“we have a very high bar cliché”). Be honest, is it really true? Most teams in fact are mediocre or worse.
Insufficient funding. It is perhaps a sad truth - but funding is a competitive differentiation for startups. Inadequate capital could impair both the ambition and execution when the speed matters most.
Loss of focus during execution. Could happen for variety of reasons - loss of conviction on a part of the team, poor growth execution / team dilution (by hiring too many or wrong people too fast), sometimes a function of too much funding.
Bailing too early—not giving the idea enough time to work. This one is hard as you never know for sure.
I’m writing this for myself—as a reminder—as much as for you. It’s incredibly easy to fall into these traps.
Imagine clearly. Test honestly. Focus completely.
Compel the world.
Love to hear your thoughts.