The Product Kata – How to solve the right problems, faster

It’s been a few years since I first read Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri. Melissa covers a wide array of topics regarding how to manage products “the right way”, one of the things that I really liked was the Product Kata.

The elevator pitch goes something along these lines; Figure out the direction we are heading, then analyze where we are today, pick a target that move us in the right direction then experiment until we start moving towards the target.

The actual outputs from product management are roadmaps, product requirements and if you are lucky some organized user research. However that’s artifacts that I think are more in line with a developers code commits or pull requests.

I have noticed that the Product Kata give us as product managers a way to track our work as we do it, similar to a scrum or kanban board. This is not only great for our own sanity but also an amazing way to discuss and get feedback from your colleagues.

No matter if it’s a softare engineer, a sales agent or a manager – they all can understand the current condition of the product, the target condition and what you think should be the next move.

If you want to give it a go I really think you should read the book to understand the principles and the framework, if you are a product mangager I am sure you are going to love it!

I’ve created a FigJam template for Product Kata so that you hit the ground running.