Craft. Ideas are easy, products hard

What does it take to build a great product? Craft the book, tries to answer that question in ten short easy to read conversational chapters. A product is the sum total of the experiences it represents. How it makes our customers feel when they see it for the first time, when they are introduced to it, when they use it, when it does what it is supposed to and when it doesn’t. In Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Robert Pirsig puts it down in a simple sentence. “Some things are better made than others." How do you add greatness to products. What Pirsig calls “better made”. How do we sprinkle that magic to work to take it to the next level? What do we do? The key is intent and purpose. a) Why should this product exist and why are we making it? b) What came before our product and what will come after? c) In the lives of our customers, how does the before and after change with what we do? Craft examines these questions. It starts with the simplest, “What do we do as product managers” and ends with the most complex “How do we find magic and product market fit?”. It then adds others to the list, exploring process and mindset. a) How do we build personas and profiles with a bite? b) How do we select, filter and prioritize features for those profiles? c) How do we select the right customer segments? d) How do we craft and tell stories? e) How do we increase probability of product trials and conversions? f) How do we innovate on a shoe string budget? g) How do we hack scale? On the mindset front: a) How do we find magic and product market fit on a consistent and repeatable basis? b) Why do we have to build great products? Why can’t we get away with building so-so products? c) What is the tech product mindset and how is that different from tech services mindset? d) Why do so many tech services firms fail to make the leap to the product world? There are so many great product books out there on multiple reading lists. Do we need another one? Craft was inspired by a single question. "I did what you told me to do and nothing happened. What did I miss?" Someone needs to sit down and walk the unwary through everything that has not been said, but should have been said. In English. For instance take magic. How do you create magic? How do you get to product market fit from magic? How do you do it on a consistent and repeatable basis, without fumbling the ball? How do you get to world class from consistent and repeatable? 208 pages, 10 chapters, 76,000 words, 65 illustrations and figures. Take a look. Feedback is a gift. Good or bad, always welcome. Who am I? Building products for three decades, I worked on four continents covering North America, UK, Europe, APAC and MENA. The products I built spanned enterprise backends, consumer frontends, risk tech and compliance engines, financial services contracts, documentary shorts and education. Craft is my 6th book.

Congrats on the launch of "Craft", @jawwad_farid ! 🎉 The way you've described it, this book sounds like a goldmine for anyone involved in product management or startups. I love how it tackles essential questions about intent and purpose in building great products. The insights on creating personas, prioritizing features, and selecting customer segments are particularly intriguing. I haven't read it yet, but I'm really looking forward to picking up some of that "better-made" magic. Thanks for sharing your extensive experience and making the complex world of product management accessible. You have played an important role in our startup journey too. Keep inspiring and spreading wisdom! Best of luck with Craft's journey on Product Hunt! 🚀📚

The tagline 'Ideas are easy, products hard' couldn't be more spot-on! Honestly, the intuitive interface looks so promising. Kudos to the team for creating such a comprehensive and user-friendly platform. :D

Hey @jawwad_farid, this is an awesome dive into what makes products truly shine! I love how you break down all the essentials and focus on the intent and purpose behind creating products. It’s refreshing to think about not just building, but really understanding our customers’ journeys. Those questions you pose are super thought-provoking too! Can't wait to check out Craft and see all the insights you’ve packed in. Looks like it’s gonna be a game changer for product builders! 📚 Keep sharing your wisdom!

Congrats @jawwad_farid on the launch! The separation of service development vs product development is interesting. Initially, I thought this was about enterprise vs consumer product development, but then realized that's not right as the examples of the services you mentioned are client centric and transactional. This is an important delineation as more people are getting informed about the product development craft. Your commentary on determining market fit as a multi-dimensional search is also on point! Too many products have delivered value in a market with a clear customer need, however, due to poor distribution strategy, these products end up failing. Or even worse, innovative products with bulletproof distribution strategy but no market / target customer need. I work for a large corporation that builds products used by consumers at other enterprises. We should be applying product development frameworks to our thinking, but after reading this book, it feels like we're relying on service development mindset instead. Given that, what strategies have you found effective in reorienting a service team to think and operate with a product mindset?

"Ideas are easy, turning them into a successful product is hard" Question: What is more important ? the product (idea) or the superstar who is launching it?