When I began my professional journey, my primary focus was to ensure that I was pleasing my supervisors.
Success meant delivering results that impressed the higher-ups, receiving recognition, and making sure everything aligned with the organizational vision. But when I co-founded Enlight—an EdTech company providing offline e-learning solutions—things changed. Suddenly, I wasn’t just managing a team or hitting KPIs laid out by a supervisor; I was leading a product—and that product had to serve the people we built it for.
A Vision Isn't Enough
At first, like any excited startup founder, I had a vision for Enlight. But as the journey progressed, I realized that my initial vision wasn't enough. We conducted our first round of user testing, and their feedback was eye-opening. They wanted different features and had different pain points than we anticipated.
“As we integrated their feedback into Enlight’s development, something magical happened—the product got better. Student engagement skyrocketed by 50%, and teachers were saving up to 40% of their time.”
That’s when I learned that as a product leader, the customer is the boss. It’s not about pushing your ideas onto the market; it’s about serving the market's needs.
Customer-Centricity in Product Management
In traditional roles, success was about making sure the boss was happy. But as a product manager, it’s about making sure the customer is happy. Their feedback drives the roadmap, and their needs dictate the strategy. This shift changed everything for me and became fundamental to how I approach building products.
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