Six Principles to Build a Great Product

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Principle 1: Step by Step

The core of a “step-by-step” approach lies in dynamically shifting perspectives as we make modular progress, ensuring we don’t lose the synergy of an integrated business ecosystem. Segmenting different business functions helped avoid internal bottlenecks. Now, in developer product development, “step-by-step” means avoiding extremes of modularity that isolate teams and instead ensuring that each move integrates tightly with the rest. This step-by-step approach guarantees that our actions form an interconnected chain of progress, rather than haphazard rushes forward.

Each major product update or expansion initiative should prompt a critical question: Have we connected with all the business lines or resources we have? Are we leveraging the advantages of our integrated ecosystem? Are we laying groundwork for future ecosystem alignment?

Coordinating closely with other business lines incurs a cost, and we need to acknowledge it. In simple terms, weak performance in one line can pull down others, which means we might not expand modularly as fast as possible. Instead, we must develop the ability to manage increasingly complex loops. By steadfastly building these feedback loops, we enhance the advantages of our integrated ecosystem over the long term, turning them into our core differentiator.

The step-by-step principle is also a powerful counter to “quick-win” expansion strategies. Let’s avoid being misled by performance metrics like DAU or MAU, at least for now. Remember: ten users who love you are more valuable than a hundred who only kind of like you. And where does user loyalty come from? From leveraging our ecosystem’s strengths.

Leveraging vertical integration on a smaller scale helps us concentrate our strengths even if, overall, our ecosystem is less mature than competitors’. This lets us compete from a stronger position on our chosen ground.

Principle 2: Proximate Goals

All leaders have a crucial responsibility: to simplify complex and ambiguous problems and present them in a solvable form for their organization. Many leaders fall short here, often declaring ambitious goals without properly mapping out the obstacles. Taking responsibility doesn’t only mean owning up to mistakes but also setting achievable, proximate goals that offer the organization solvable challenges. — Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

Ambitious goals can drive excitement, but they can also cause confusion and fear. Without achievable, smaller goals, our engineers don’t have a clear starting point. We must empower frontline teams with decision-making power, while also reducing the ambiguity they face. Break down goals into tasks whenever possible. Focusing on proximate goals over grand visions keeps the team moving forward.

Proximate goals also provide timely motivation. Building a new business will be a long-term endeavor. We can’t expect constant, strong positive feedback from the market, so setting and achieving smaller goals gives our team the positive reinforcement crucial for morale.

Principle 3: Go-To-Market Multiple Times

Ninety percent of product ideas are bad—what matters is how quickly you realize they are. — Marc Randolph, Co-founder of Netflix

Constant market engagement has three main benefits:

Preventing insularity and creating products people actually need

Using new products to probe true market needs (the “scouting” approach),

Testing the reliability of our internal teams.

Developing products is like running social experiments. Genius product managers don’t create universally-needed products out of thin air; the market is our lab. The faster we obtain real results, the clearer our differentiation from competitors will be. Mark Zuckerberg once said that building products is a turn-based strategy game and the winning secret is to ship it fast to have more turns than others. Accelerate problem exposure, increase visibility of issues, and ensure everyone is accountable for what they build and understands the use cases deeply.

Getting market feedback is an art. We can’t let market requests dictate every move or become tunnel-visioned on internal development goals. The answer is neither, but in accelerating our frequency of market engagement, reducing bias in feedback, and identifying core demands.

Principle 4: Build a User Culture

Recognizing that product development will be long-term means understanding that we need an exceptional, durable team. As we noted, we’re still in the early stages; the real competition will be even tougher.

Any member indifferent to user needs or uninterested in the business trajectory could hinder the team down the line. Building a strong team will also be a long-term commitment; rapid turnover of team members would only be another version of the “quick-win” fallacy. Promoting a strong user culture is a necessity, not an option.

Why is this essential?

If we’re empowering frontline engineers, they must understand user needs deeply; otherwise, they’re just following product requirement docs.

Eliminate any go-between roles that separate engineers from users; these roles only add noise and delays.

Principle three—Go-To-Market Multiple Times—is best served by “building in public,” where engineers can directly address feedback and bugs. If an engineer can’t explain their work clearly, it indicates a need for deeper understanding. This level of clarity is necessary before delegation can be effective.

Principle 5: Stay Objective

Long-term competition tests our mindset: neither despair nor overconfidence are helpful. To maintain realistic assessments and a steady outlook, we must remind ourselves to stay objective.

Objectively Assess the Gaps

Stay informed of competitor dynamics. Where possible, try competitor products firsthand and monitor market feedback. Avoid being misled by competitors’ “smoke-and-mirrors” updates, and keep a realistic view of market prospects and competition intensity.

Recognize the Twisting Path of Progress

Progress is not linear. We’re not omniscient and will have to continuously adapt. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming “A will lead to B.” New features won’t automatically bring users; multiple factors could be at play. Our aim should be to test widely and cheaply.

Negative feedback is still feedback. Being criticized by users is better than market silence; it proves that our needs assessment was somewhat accurate.

Principle 6: Stay Attuned to Opportunities

Growth over the long term follows a exponential curve, with bursts of short-term volatility. Opportunities are unpredictable, and to grow, we must be prepared to seize them. Our ability to capture these moments must be continually maintained.