Episode 97: Putting Outcomes into Practice w/Tim Herbig

Electric Tuesday! Or at least ProductBeats’ Tuesday!

And we are going to talk about something I learned at university. The direction of electrical current versus the movement of the charge carriers for example electrons.

The path of a typical electron through a wire could be described as a rather chaotic, zigzag path characterized by collisions with fixed atoms. And yet the direction of the current is steady, it will go from the positive terminal to the negative.

One of my professors at university compared it to when he was out in the forest walking his dog. He took the trail, kept a steady pace from A to B while the dog was running around all over, sometimes on his left, sometimes on his right. The professor was the current direction, while his dog was the electron.

(https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circuits/Lesson-2/Electric-Current)

This turned out to be the best strategy lesson I’ve ever had. As product managers we should be the current direction and then there are lots of activities happening all over, they may seem erratic and chaotic but they all contribute to the direction (or at least that’s what they should do).

And that is what strategy is all about, a direction, how are we going to the from A to B. Most likely we already have direction which will complicate a bit and maybe B will move after we have set out, but basically, we as product managers need to set the direction.

It feels great to use what you learned at university in reality, doesn’t it?

To help translate those invaluable lessons in electrical engineering to everyday product management is the marvellous, wonderful product management consultant and speaker Tim Herbig.

Tim - it was truly great to have you on the show to share your best thinking in How to connect the Dots of Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery.