Inspiration: Supposing a tree fell down...
"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this.
—A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Learn more...
I've seen many product managers attempt to write business plans and development documents and sales tools playbooking for every possible contingency. ("Suppose a tree fell down!") And yet, some things you anticipated never occur, and the ones you didn't anticipate frequently do. ("Supposing it didn't," said Pooh.)
We do what we can to prevent failure. And that's good. (That's the value of my Under 10 Planning Canvas.)
Instead of trying to anticipate everything, help your executive teams, development teams, and sales & marketing teams use their judgment by understanding the product strategy and your market's mindset. People will invariably use your products in ways you didn't intend. And your colleagues will find situations not covered by your FAQs and user stories. Share personas, a "day in the life," a few common use scenarios--don't try to flowchart every possible outcome.
(Piglet was comforted by this.)
You should be too.
About Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com
In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com