Is India aping the West a bad idea?
Often is, though not always
But certainly is a bad idea in one area that I know of
Product Management
It may sound harsh or bitter, but it must be said and I have lived and worked in the US most of my working life
Whenever a Product Manager is stuck
Or unhappy with their product, team, traction…
He or she starts spouting wisdom from the West, more so from Silicon Valley
Heck, I did that when I had just landed in 2014
(I lived in US 17+ years and 4+ of those in SV)
Most books and blogs paint a picture of a Utopia of sorts, of empowered and capable teams, of well-functioning, highly motivated individuals
Let me be straight here.
That picture exists only in books.
People there just do a better job of marketing themselves
(That is one thing we can certainly learn from the West)
Managing teams and products in the real world is messy
Most things involving people is what makes it harder in India and the fact that building products is still a relatively new idea here.
The body of knowledge is still evolving, people are still learning and maturing, touting western wisdom doesn’t help
Adapting to real world conditions helps
Automatically expecting teams to operate doesn’t help
Coaching, motivating and training people to get there helps
Setting unrealistic goals leads to shortcuts and jugaad
And that doesn’t always help
Setting realistic goals and enabling people does help
Are you a founder or product manager or a product leader?
Do you agree?
How do you manage products and teams?