Aaah, optimistic suggestions. That heat, fuzzy blanket that founders and product managers like to wrap themselves in.
“Our customers love us,” you proclaim in group conferences. “We’re heading in the right direction,” you inform stakeholders. “You probably did it,” you inform your self within the mirror. “PMF right here we come.”
However there’s an issue.
You may’t construct a product primarily based on optimistic suggestions.
When I speak to prospects, I completely love negativity. I thrive on being instructed that I obtained it unsuitable, that I made a poor product determination or assumption, that I missed the mark, that I might have and will have achieved higher.
Name me a masochist, however the factor is that this: I do know that these lumps I obtain are going to assist me construct a greater product. Positivity, then again? That’s ineffective to me.
Enable me to clarify.
The explanation that negativity is seen as being so unhealthy is as a result of we’re all human (except you’re an AI, by which case… I, for one, welcome our new overlords). All of us expertise feelings, and all these mushy, mushy emotions could be damage. And thus: