The 3 S's of the Product Lifecycle
A few years ago, I was in a rut learning-wise, feeling like I was going through the motions and keeping a bunch of product trains running on time, without actually moving the needle (because the needle was in a haystack). After the requisite amount of self-pity, I sought out one of my mentors and had a candid conversation.
I explained to my advisor that everything I was working on was on auto-pilot, and the exponential learning (i.e. drinking from a firehose sensation) that I had enjoyed in the role for so long was in the rearview mirror. His advice was really simple:
“Change your environment to match your preferred learning mode, or find a new role.”
There are essentially 3 distinct phases of a product’s lifecycle he said, and therefore 3 types of roles for a PM to tackle:
Starter
Scaler
Sustainer
Let’s dig into each one.
[1] Starter
A starter is on point to build a v1 product based on business opportunity / market need / customer problem. But what that will exactly look like is ever-shifting…
