I was fascinated by competition when I started out as a product manager. I used to read about & try competing products. Then I would be like, “Why doesn’t our coffee machine boot up instantly?”, or “Let us add a pub crawl feature to our maps product!”, and so on. Aping a competing product at a feature level without understanding which customer segment it is serving, what scenarios it is solving for, what the business model is, and all of the rich and differentiated context that applies to your competition (and not to you) is a sure path to failure. Above all, feature envy is not healthy for a PM, shows your lack of confidence, and just makes you feel shitty about yourself and your product.
Journeyman PM — “Oooh, so cool, let’s copy that feature they just launched!”
I took on the opposite, idealist view as I grew in my career. This pendulum swing of opinions is common as you grow in your thinking. I ignored competition, with a growing confidence in my own ability to build features and products that customers would use. My viewpoint changed to — “Listen to the customer” (and ignore competition). This helped me build products that had product-market fit and that met customer needs. I built well-liked products that succeeded somewhat — but often lost to competition. Something was still missing in my understanding of how to think about competition.
Professional PM — “Ignore the competition, listen to your customers…”
Now, I have a pragmatic, action-oriented view of competition. My credo is “Ignore, or copy fast”. This recognizes that in 9 times out of 10, the context of competition will not apply, and so you should ignore competition. But in that one time when the context is the same (and specifically in products that have network effects), you need to act fast & copy what the competition is doing.
Expert PM — “Ignore, or copy fast. Don’t waste time!”
The most important resource for a product manager is time. You’re wasting time if you are spending days thinking about how cool your competition is. You’re wasting time, and putting your company at risk, if you are ignoring competition that is acquiring your customers and building network effects.
Be action-oriented. Make decisions. Don’t waste time. Ignore, or copy fast.
Links to look at!
A moment of clarity, terrific article, loved the last line, “You can’t pack every last ounce of joy, beauty, and elegance into something while simultaneously trying to squeeze every last dollar out of it. “