Product craft, are you serious?

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You cannot be serious...

When I think of craft, I think of artisans and craftspeople who spend years, if not decades, developing their skills to create a work of art.

I'm referring to the years of apprenticeship, training, and generational knowledge transfer involved in creating a traditional Japanese katana or sword—heating, folding, hammering, tempering, and cooling metal.  There are many other examples, but you get my gist. Contrast this with popular concepts like the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP is a valid approach, don't get me wrong. I've launched multiple MVPs and nothing could be further from a work of art. They were incomplete, often inconvenient or counterintuitive, all in the name of delivering something viable to test an idea. They often died on their own because of those flaws or remained that way because users had no alternative.

Now, "product craft"... I actively engaged with "product craft" a few years ago when I joined a new company, and it irked me. 

I know it is used broadly in the product management community and companies, but that was the first time I was in a product organization that proudly uttered those words. Unfortunately, it had been "crafted"  into our everyday conversations by the product leader in the organization, who was proud to have "product craft" sessions every month to "level up" the product team's "craft". I was a new leader so I put up with it. 

I have been a product manager for longer than I care to admit. To me, product management is nothing more than common sense and critical thinking. 

I use common sense when thinking about why a feature or a product would be important for a user, and how they would use it (not how we want them to use it, those are two very different things). 

Critical thinking keeps me humble. I think of ways my product can fail, negatively impact users and the business at large. I seek feedback and opinions. I test and gather data.

It is good to have named frameworks, they are useful shorthands. I had been using a variation of the RICE scoring model before I knew it had a name. It made it easier for me to just say I use a variation of RICE versus explaining every time what I was doing, if people don't know they can just google it. I do like user stories but have noticed that even product leaders conflate them with writing good JIRA tickets. But those things don't amount to a "craft" in my opinion.  

By labeling product management as a "craft", I feel we elevate form over function. It creates an inside versus an outside crowd environment where adherence to prescribed methods overshadows practical solutions and critical analysis. Product management thrives on adaptability and clear thinking—not on rigidly following a set of so-called craft principles that may not fit every situation.

I volunteer my time at my alma mater (ugh perhaps a topic for another blog post... I am referring to "alma mater"), mentoring grad and undergrad students. They are usually drawn to my mentor profile because of my experience at one of the MAANG companies and my job level. One persistent question from them is "what product management training or certifications should I get?" 

I often give them my spiel that product management is nothing more than common sense and critical thinking. No one goes to school to get a degree in product management - at least to my knowledge. 

What do you think? Share your thoughts below