Crafting Powerful Product Principles 🧬

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Hey Practical PM! It’s Aneesha :)

Sorry for letting you down yesterday! I got held up with something personal and important ☹️ But here’s the 2nd newsletter of the week!

Can you imagine building a product without an aim, a direction, or conflicting ideas or priorities? Confusing, right?

That’s where product principles come into the picture.

Product principles are the foundational pillars that define your product's DNA and guide it toward success. These principles are core beliefs that shape every decision — from design choices to feature prioritization.

Today’s post will dive deeper into product principles, why they’re important for a product and PMs, and how you can formulate better product principles.

Let’s go!

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Why are Product Principles Important? 👑 

When you build a product that users love, you’re going to deal with ever-changing user needs, feedback, internal debates, and conflicting priorities.

Product principles help you guide every decision you make as a PM. Let’s take a deeper look at why product principles are important.

1. Perfect Alignment and Focus

Each member of your product team brings unique skills, but without a shared understanding of the destination (your product vision), they might pull the ship in different directions.

Product principles create a common language, ensuring everyone – designers, engineers, marketers – understands the product's core purpose. It's like having a clear map that everyone can refer to. This leads to:

• Focused decision-making: When faced with a tough question about a feature, the team can quickly assess if it aligns with the principles. No more wasted time debating ideas that stray from the course!

• Consistent user experience: Imagine a treasure map with conflicting information. That's what users experience with a product that lacks focus. Product principles ensure a smooth and consistent experience for users, like a well-charted journey.

2. Feature Selection

Product principles act as a powerful filter when faced with an overflowing backlog of feature requests. Let's say you have ideas for a fancy social media integration and a simpler way to manage user accounts.

By evaluating these features through the lens of your established product principles (e.g., focus on user productivity), your team can prioritize the feature that aligns best with your core values and what users truly need. This helps you:

• Say goodbye to feature creep: Ever seen a product become bloated with unnecessary features? Product principles help you avoid this by focusing on features that truly enhance the core value proposition, keeping your product ship lean and efficient.

• Laser-focused roadmap: Your product roadmap is like your sailing itinerary. With clear product principles, you can create a roadmap that prioritizes features most likely to lead you to your treasure (product success).

3. Sparking Innovation

Some might think product principles stifle creativity. But they're actually the opposite – they're an innovation catalyst.

Imagine having a well-defined search area on your treasure map. It doesn't restrict you; it pushes you to explore new ways to find the hidden riches within that area.

Product principles work the same way. By establishing core values, they encourage your team to think outside the box and develop creative solutions that adhere to those values. This fosters a culture of innovation, leading to:

• Features that truly enhance the user experience: Your product becomes more than just a basic tool; it becomes a delightful experience for users, filled with features that solve their problems in unexpected and user-friendly ways.

• Standing out from the crowd: In a sea of similar products, product principles help you differentiate yourself. By focusing on your core values and finding creative solutions within that framework, you develop a unique product that users can't find anywhere else.

4. Building Trust with a Clear Message

As a PM, you need to communicate your plans clearly to your team members and investors. Product principles provide a powerful communication tool for both internal and external audiences:

• Explaining product decisions: When a stakeholder asks why you made a certain feature choice, you can confidently explain how it aligns with your product principles. This fosters trust and buy-in from everyone involved.

• Connecting with users: Product principles help you explain your product's core values to potential users. This transparency builds trust and attracts users who resonate with your vision.

Making Product Principles Stick: From Paper to Practice 💪 

Your product principles need to be actively used to be truly effective. To “live your product principles”, you can follow these steps 👇️ 

1. Weave Principles into the Design

Say you're designing a new feature. Don't just jump into wireframes! Integrate your product principles into the design process from the very beginning. Here's how:

• Discussion Fuel: 
  
  During design discussions, use product principles to frame the conversation. Ask questions like "How will this feature embody our principle of 'simplicity is key'?" This ensures the design aligns with the core values and user experience you want to create.
  

• User Testing Through the Principle Lens: 
  
  User testing is crucial but take it a step further. When observing users interact with a prototype, assess how it aligns with your principles. Did the design encourage user exploration as per your "discovery" principle?

2. Prioritization in Action!

New feature ideas are like shiny pirate treasure – everyone wants a piece! However, not all features are created equal. Here's how product principles can be your prioritization superpower:

• The Ultimate Filter: 
  
  When faced with a mountain of feature requests, use your product principles as a filter. Evaluate each idea through the lens of your core values. Does a complex social media integration align with your focus on "user privacy"?
  

• Roadmap Refinement: 
  
  Your product roadmap is your sailing itinerary. When building your roadmap, assess how well each planned feature aligns with your established principles. This ensures you're prioritizing features that strengthen your product's core value proposition and avoid feature creep.

3. Keeping Principles Top-of-Mind: Communication is Key!

Just because you've written down your product principles doesn't mean everyone will remember them.

Here's how to ensure they become ingrained in your product development culture:

• Regular Discussions: 
  
  Schedule regular team meetings to discuss and reinforce your product principles. Use real-world examples of how features embody (or contradict) those principles. This keeps them fresh in everyone's mind.
  

• Stakeholder Alignment: 
  
  Don't keep your principles locked away! Share them with stakeholders like investors and executives. This fosters transparency and builds trust by demonstrating a clear vision for the product.

MUST READ: Product principles: What, why, and how (with examples) 2024

What Does a Good Product Principle Look Like? 🌟

There's no magic formula for crafting perfect product principles. However, the best ones share some key characteristics:

• Concise and Clear: Aim for 5-7 core principles that are easy to understand and remember. Jargon-filled sentences will only gather dust; opt for clear, direct language.

• Actionable Outcomes: Don't just state what your product is; define the desired outcomes for users and the business. Focus on the "why" behind your principles, not just the "what."

• Actionable Language: Principles shouldn't be abstract philosophies. Use clear and actionable language that guides day-to-day decision-making.

• User-Centric: At the heart of every great product lies a deep understanding of the user. Ensure your principles prioritize user needs and address their pain points.

• Evolving Entity: The product landscape is a living, breathing thing. Don't expect your principles to be set in stone. Revisit and refine them as your product and market evolve to ensure they remain relevant.

Examples of Good Product Principles

Let's see how product principles translate into action across different product categories:

• For a Fitness App:

  • Principle: Make fitness accessible and joyful, not intimidating.
    Prioritize features that create a positive user experience, encouraging users to develop sustainable fitness habits.

• For a Collaboration Tool:

  • Principle: Seamless communication and streamlined workflows.
    Design features that empower teams to collaborate effectively, regardless of location or time zone.

• For a News Aggregator:

  • Principle: Deliver trustworthy information clearly and concisely.
    Prioritize fact-checking and unbiased reporting, even in the age of clickbait headlines.

Key Takeaways for Product Managers 🚀

• Product principles are your guiding light: They provide a clear vision and direction for your product, ensuring everyone on the team is rowing in the same direction.

• Focus and prioritization powerhouse: Product principles help you make tough decisions about features, prioritizing those that best align with your core values and user needs.

• Fuel for innovation: Product principles don't stifle creativity; they encourage teams to develop innovative solutions that stay true to your core values.

• Living document, not a dusty scroll: Revisit and refine your product principles as your product and market evolve to ensure they remain relevant.

• Clarity is key: Keep your product principles concise, actionable, and user-centric.

• Embed them in the process: Integrate product principles into design discussions, user testing, and roadmap development.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate: Regularly discuss and reinforce product principles with your team and stakeholders.

That’s all for today !

Stay tuned for some freshly baked PM tips, strategies, insights, weekly Q/A digests, and more right into your inbox!🚀

Cya!
Aneesha ❤️ 

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Areesha Shaikh

• Aneesha S

• Twice the Impact PM