Myth-Buster: "Product is King"

I was recently trying to come up with an equation for 'Impact'. Most efforts, in tech or otherwise, set out to create an Impact in a certain space, and gradually, try to make that Impact recurring, self-inducing, efficient, multiplicative, and of course, profitable (in the case of for-profits). Based on my limited experience and understanding, I put down something like this:

IMPACT = f (Size of Problem, Uniqueness of Solution, Customer Experience, Scale of Solution)

WHERE:

• Size of Problem = Frequency and Intensity of the problem and the number of people who face it
• Uniqueness of Solution = How innovative is your solution compared to others, because that could be a hook for a customer to come and stay with your Product versus others
• Customer Experience = A simple, functional experience works for a niche problem and an un-crowded market, 'Wow' experience is what the solution needs to offer for a more crowded space, but the end-user experience is of course crucial because that is what will help you keep your customer
• Scale of Solution = A baseline goal for any Product, scale is the extent and the pace at which you can multiply the number of nodes using your solution in the ecosystem

So there are 4 variables to this Impact equation. Let's combine and sort these into two, perhaps defining, Axes of Impact:

• Scale Axis = Size of Problem x Scale of Solution
• Depth Axis = Uniqueness of Solution x Customer Experience

This is of course just my framework of looking at Impact, and it is by no means exhaustive or universally applicable.

The whole point of this exercise was to develop some kind of a lens for missions that can be addressed through Product and to what extent. For example, if you are on a mission to make 90% of India's population literate by 2040, the role of Product will, perhaps, over-index on the Scale axis. On the depth axis, while Product will still add value, the bulk of the value may come from other areas such as partnership ecosystems, grassroots evangelism, operational innovations, and so on. On the other hand, if your mission is to build the most enjoyable game on the planet, Product could bring exceeding value along both the Scale and the Depth axes. This is why, you'll find that some companies "feel" more Product-driven than others.

If you are an aspiring or new Product Manager or "Techie", it is easy to start believing that "Product is king" (for the longest time, I was under that illusion, too). Most people who pursue the PM or Tech career do it because they crave the satisfaction of bringing value along these axes and eventually driving Impact. This is where the Tech community, I feel, tends to have blindspots. It is important to recognise that the amount of value that Product or Tech alone can drive along the Scale or Depth axes (or both) really depends on the nature of the mission and where it is trying to create Impact. I might even advise aspirants to carefully assess if, as a life goal, you want to put yourself behind a mission or just Product, and what's dearer to you — because while Product is always a part of most organisations' mission to create Impact, the extent to which Product contributes along the Scale and/or Depth axes is relative to the size and nature of the mission itself, and that varies widely.