Sharing Knowledge: From Customer to Product Manager

This opening post in a planned series argues that a company can only launch a successful product if it builds something customers actually want, which requires deep knowledge of the customer's need, context, and understanding. It frames product discovery as a knowledge-creation process, drawing on academic work on innovation and on what makes relationships effective for sharing knowledge. Customers rarely know what they want or how to define their problem, so product teams must combine customer input, direct observation, and market knowledge. The piece also distinguishes three kinds of trust that enable this collaboration, making it a useful lens on why customer relationships matter in discovery.

01Key takeaways

• Treat product discovery as a knowledge-creation process, not just a feature-selection exercise.
• Customers often can't define their problem, so combine what they say with observing what they do.
• Build relationships with customers that make knowledge sharing timely, safe, and collaborative.
• Recognize the three trust types (commitment, competence, companion) and work to build the right ones with customers.
• Aim for a partnership approach with customers, where both sides invest time in joint problem solving.

02Key sections

Innovation as knowledge creation

Drawing on Hislop, the author treats innovation as deliberately transforming products, processes, or structures, primarily driven by creating and combining knowledge. Discovery teams use search, application, and recombination of knowledge in this work.

Customers rarely know what they want

Customers often cannot articulate their problem or lack product expertise to explore solutions. Discovery therefore has two jobs: clearly defining the customer's problem and identifying a suitable solution.

What makes knowledge sharing work

Citing Cross et al., the author lists four attributes of effective relationships for knowledge sharing: knowing what someone knows, timely access, willingness to problem-solve jointly, and psychological safety. Their absence hinders discovery.

Three levels of trust

Newell et al.'s framework of commitment, competence, and companion trust explains what each party must rely on. Discovery works best when a partnership-level relationship exists.

Looking ahead

The author asks for reader feedback on whether the academic tone is too formal and previews the next post on knowledge flowing from product managers to engineers.

03From the post

“This is the first post in a two+ part series. I have content in mind beyond the first two parts, but want to gauge interest before deciding whether or not to continue. These first two parts are sections of a paper I wrote in a class called, "Creating and Sharing”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.