What is Product Sense

Master product sense by knowing what it stands for…

A journey of thousand miles doesn’t begin with a single step. It begins with the knowledge of the direction of the goal. Similarly to master product sense, you must know what it really is.

Here are the ways folks in the industry define product sense:

1. Product sense is having an eye for the product.
2. Product sense is the ability to make an optimal decision when faced with ambiguous data and situations.
3. It is the ability to understand what makes a product great. Also, called product intuition and product judgment.
4. Product sense tells you what to build and why. The business case does help, but product sense helps you come up with meaningful input for the business case.
5. It is a deep understanding of the goal of the product, both for the customers and the business.
6. AB Test results feed to tactical intuition. Looking at the results holistically feeds to product sense. Product intuition helps you understand the macro impact. It helps you understand the non-obvious, 2nd order effect.
7. When you look at a product can you infer why things are the way they are?
8. Product sense is the result of three skills: Empathy for users, Domain Knowledge, and Creativity.
9. Product sense is the ability to consistently build good products. It is the ability to consistently build for value.

As you can see, product sense is a sort of catch-all phrase. Like common sense and intuition, it comes with a lot of practice and reflection.

Photo by Andreas Fickl on Unsplash

It comes with deliberate work, not mindless work. Product teardown and talking to customers helps. Talking to peers, talking to experienced PMs, reading books and blogs, and spending time with product help.

The critical part is to keep thinking and asking ‘why’ and ‘how’ — every day.