My Product Principles (And How I Developed Them)

I don't follow frameworks religiously anymore. But I do hold principles—beliefs about how product work should be done that have survived multiple jobs, products, and contexts.

Here are mine, and where they came from.

1. Ship to learn, don't learn to ship.

From: A Kashmakash feature that I researched for 3 months without shipping. By the time it launched, the opportunity was gone. Now I launch early and iterate based on real behavior.

2. Every product decision is a bet. Acknowledge the uncertainty.

From: A confident prioritization at Keka that was completely wrong. The confidence was the problem—it prevented me from building in checkpoints. Now I say "I believe X because Y, and here's how we'll know if I'm wrong."

3. The job of PM isn't to be right—it's to create environments where the team can find the right answer.

From: Early career ego. I thought good PMs had all the answers. Turns out, good PMs facilitate good answers. My role is context-setting, not answer-providing.

4. Data informs, judgment decides.

From: Shipping a feature that A/B tested well but destroyed trust (covered in another article). Numbers don't capture everything. Human judgment still matters.

5. The best feature is the one you don't build.

From: Bloating Keka's offboarding module with stakeholder requests, then spending 6 months removing features that cluttered the core experience. Saying no early is better than removing later.

6. Consistency > intensity.

From: Burning out during crunch periods, then being unproductive for weeks. Sustainable pace over heroic sprints. This is now non-negotiable.

7. Trust is the only currency that matters.

From: A roadmap battle I won through politics rather than persuasion. The feature shipped, but the relationship damage took a year to repair. Now I prioritize trust over wins.

8. The craft is the reward.

From: Reflection. I don't work for promotions or titles. I work because solving hard problems with good people is inherently satisfying. Keeping this clear keeps me motivated.

These principles took 4 years to develop. They'll probably evolve in the next 4. But for now, they're my compass.