S2 E2: From Stone Sculptures to Building?Cities - Focussing on the Bigger Picture

Without scrolling down any further, can you guess where this famous stone sculpture is located??

Congratulations if you guessed Paris. This incredibly detailed piece of art is one of the many stone sculptures carved into the Arc de Triomphe (see below).

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-élysées at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle (see image below).

Place Charles de Gaulle, is a large road junction in Paris, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues. And Paris, is of course the capital city of France, a major European city and a global center for art, fashion, gastronomy and culture. (see below).

While the aerial view in the image above is breathtaking, the stone sculpture almost disappears amidst the city's grandeur, showcasing the harmonious blend of its many components.

Why this discourse on stone sculptures and cities? It's a metaphor. You, the product manager, the analyst or marketer, are the sculptor of that stone carving on the Arc de Triomphe, engrossed in creating each detail and ensuring that every curve and edge is perfect. The precision, passion, and dedication that goes into your particular sculpture is awe-inspiring. Each of you, whether you’re a product manager building a feature, an analyst diving deep into data, or a marketer creating a campaign, are masters of your own craft.?

Yet, just as Paris is not defined by a single monument or street, a product or company transcends individual features or analyses. And as majestic as one sculpture may be, if it didn’t fit cohesively within the overall design of the city, it would clash with the city's broader aesthetic. Similarly, if one person or team become too insular, focusing only on their specific task without considering the company’s overarching goals, it can lead to incongruities and inefficiencies.

The grandeur of the Arc de Triomphe isn’t just about its individual sculptures, but rather how they all come together to form a historical narrative, a testament to France’s rich history. Similarly, a successful product or campaign is about how all the elements?—?from design to analytics, marketing to sales?—?harmonise to tell a consistent, compelling story that resonates with the target audience.

This serves as a reminder to all of us. While it’s vital to take pride in our work and strive for excellence in our specific tasks, we must never forget the bigger ecosystem we are a part of. Like the many avenues converging at the Place Charles de Gaulle, we must understand how our efforts intersect and complement those of our colleagues.

In conclusion, the next time you find yourself lost in the intricacies of your work, remember the carvings on the Arc de Triomphe. Let it inspire you to not only focus on the beauty of the details, but also to take a step back and appreciate the magnificence of the bigger picture, ensuring that your contributions align with the grand narrative of your organisation’s mission.

What's the relevance to self-serve?

In a presentation to Hopin's product team, I used these visuals and narrative to discuss analytical priorities. While I would have loved to have had my team tackle every analytical request that came to us, there were just far too many. So I had to remind the product managers that their request for analysis were on occasion like a sculpture on the Arc de Triomphe; beautiful to look at up close and important to them, the sculptor, but in the grand scheme of a functioning city, not a high priority.

Thankfully we had given many of the product managers the tools to get out the basic insights they needed through self-serve reporting. This in turn allowed my team to focus on providing the analysis needed to understand the performance of the entire city - regrettably, in this story, challenges loomed large for our "city", in the form of redundancies leading many of us to seek new horizons.

So if you find yourself constantly compromising your analytical needs for the (hopefully) good of the bigger picture, I urge you to ask yourself, could you self-serve this request?

I've built some tools to get you started. They're 100% free, all you need to do is sign up.

Bhav