By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Jules Walter argues that product sense is a learned skill rather than an innate talent, defined as consistently crafting products that have the intended impact on users through empathy and creativity. He offers four practices: observing people use products, deconstructing everyday products, learning from strong product thinkers, and staying curious about technology and domain changes. Because product sense is central to PM work yet vague and hard to learn, these concrete habits give product managers a practical path to building it. He also outlines signs that one's product sense is improving.
01Key takeaways
- Product sense is a learnable skill, so treat it as something to practice deliberately rather than a fixed trait.
- Attend user research sessions regularly and ask open-ended questions about why users react as they do.
- Assume users are distracted and time-pressed, and make primary actions obvious while avoiding information overload.
- Compare similar products to uncover their strategies and the trade-offs behind design decisions.
- Frame problems clearly before jumping to solutions, since good framing creates constraints that simplify decisions.
02Key sections
- What product sense is
- Product sense combines empathy for discovering real user needs with creativity for designing solutions that address them. Successful products like the original iPhone, Gmail, and Superhuman illustrate it.
- Building empathy through observation
- Watching users in research sessions and asking open-ended questions reveals hidden needs and friction. Observing your own reactions to everyday products also sharpens intuition about what works.
- Deconstructing products
- Regularly analyzing new products and comparing competitors exposes design choices and strategy. Noting moments of frustration and delight builds an understanding of good and bad experiences.
- Learning from great product thinkers
- Attending product reviews, noting recurring feedback, and studying the reasoning of respected leaders teaches decision-making principles. Attention to small details and well-framed problems drives creative solutions.
- Tracking technology and domain change
- Monitoring macro platform, social, and regulatory shifts, plus micro technical changes, reveals new product opportunities. Treating new trends as potential openings rather than fads helps build creative solutions.
03From the post
“1. Freemium vs. trial 2. What is good waitlist conversion 3. What is good monthly churn Q: How do I develop product sense? Your question implies that it can be developed, and to that point, I 1,000% agree. Contrary to what a lot of PMs believe, product sense is not something you need to be born with. It’s a learned skill, just like any other PM skill. Sure, some people are naturally better at it, but that’s OK. You don’t need to be in the 99th percentile of this skill to be an incredibly successful PM. That being said, you are building a product as your job, and are often the final word on product decisions, so you absolutely do need to develop your product sense muscle, especially as you move up in seniority. To help you build your product sense, I’ve asked Jules Walter, a longtime PM at Slack and YouTube who’s also a prominent leader in the broader PM community, to share his hard-earned wisdom with us. Below, Jules unravels the mystery that is product sense. He shares…”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.