The Top 12 Product Management Mistakes
And How To Avoid Them

Martin Cagan Silicon Valley Product Group

THE TOP 12 PRODUCT MANAGEMENT MISTAKES – AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Martin Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group

Bad products are everywhere. Products that simply aren’t useful, don’t work right, are too difficult to learn, or that take forever to sell. Little wonder, as there are so many things that have to go right in order to create a successful product. There are, however, some pitfalls that occur so frequently and are so damaging that we believe they are at the root of the vast majority of bad products. In this paper we review each of these pitfalls and describe why it’s so easy to get confused and fall into these traps. Keep this list handy, as it can hopefully serve as a reminder of the dangers to avoid in your own product development efforts. 1. Confusing Customer Requirements with Product Requirements Many product teams look to the marketing function or sales or the customer to define the product to be built. If you’re building a custom product, or doing contract product development work, then letting your marketing or sales organization define your product may be fine. However, if you’re trying to build an innovative product that will meet the needs of a wide range of customers, then this approach will rarely produce the product you want. The logic goes that the marketing organization communicates with the sales organization and the customers, and hence they are in the best position to know what product is required. However, there are several reasons why few good products are created this way. First, customers don’t necessarily know what they want. Not because they aren’t smart, but because it is very difficult to proscribe a specific solution and predict its effectiveness without actually building it, or at least building a prototype.

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