By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan uses General Patton's quote about telling people what to do rather than how to do it to argue that product managers should specify outcomes, not implementations. He identifies two failure modes: customers prescribing solutions instead of describing needs, and product managers dictating UI design and engineering details rather than the required behavior. He notes that strong product designers are scarce and most valuable early in the process, so they should be integrated into discovery rather than pulled in after requirements are finished. Giving designers and engineers latitude to solve problems, he argues, is a major advantage in building winning products.
01Key takeaways
- Describe the outcome and required behavior of a feature rather than prescribing the implementation.
- Treat customer-suggested solutions as signals of underlying needs, then reframe them as problems to solve.
- Involve product designers from the start in customer visits, profiling, brainstorming, and strategy.
- Give designers latitude to explore alternative designs and listen to their insight on user behavior.
- Avoid spelling out technical implementation details in PRDs; let engineers propose how to build it.
- If you lack design resources, recognize that interaction design is a separate skill that most PMs do not have.
02Key sections
- Customers Describe Problems, Not Solutions
- Users often propose how a product should work, but a product manager who focuses on what the product should accomplish opens up far more solution options.
- Don't Dictate Design to Designers
- Product managers frequently prescribe interaction details, especially when they double as the only designer, though interaction design is a distinct skill set.
- Integrate Designers Early
- Treating design as an 'as needed' service after the PRD is written limits its impact; designers add the most value during market understanding and solution exploration.
- Give Engineers Room to Solve
- Spelling out implementation details to engineers undermines their contribution, and this still happens often in PRDs despite clearer role boundaries.
- Further Resources
- Cagan recommends Mark Hurst's Good Experience site and Alan Cooper's book on high-tech product design as deeper reading.
03From the post
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Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.