Made to be hit

Image credit

https://unsplash.com/photos/black-drum-set-g8sB_Dp5h84

Topic

Product Management

Type

Quick take

In February 2024, I went to a music store to buy drums. This was a childhood dream of mine, and I thought it was the right time to acquire a set of drums. The set is electronic because I live in an apartment building, so I need to make sure I don't get expelled by other residents due to drum noise!

When I asked the salesman, “Can they withstand multiple hard hits?” he answered, “These things were made to be struck hard and often. This is their job. It’s their job to be struck and create a beautiful result.”

Somehow, I resonated with this as a PM. Product Management emerges as a profession positioned between Business and Tech. Both sectors are known for their pressures but in different areas. Business pushes to generate more revenue, while Tech focuses on building a scalable product with the right documentation and clean code. I am overgeneralizing, but my point is that Product Management was made to handle pressure. This is the job: handling the pressure and creating the best possible experience for the customers.

Since I’m a novice drummer, I asked him again, “How difficult is it to learn drums?” He replied, “Entering the world of drums is very easy. You can learn a specific beat and be ready to start within a month. Becoming good has a steep learning curve, though. This is not the case with all musical instruments. Guitar, violin, etc., have much steeper learning curves before you can play your first song.”

Again, this is the same for Product Managers. Learning the basics is not so hard (compared to Finance, Engineering, Medicine, etc.), but mastering the profession of PM requires a steep learning curve and many years of practice.

I feel that there is a good analogy here.

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[Notes] PM Habits Seminar: Get Shit Done by Shreyas Doshi