People say a movie is all about story. I think product is all about story. A good product affects how you see yourself and the world. You open yourself up to it emotionally and it rewards the investment. But telling a story is a specialized skill, like drawing or cooking. I look to Apple as the clearest example of a company who's products are stories. This is from an interview with John Sculley, former CEO of Apple:
A friend of mine was at meetings at Apple and Microsoft on the same day and this was in the last year, so this was recently. He went into the Apple meeting (he’s a vendor for Apple) and when he went into the meeting at Apple as soon as the designers walked in the room, everyone stopped talking because the designers are the most respected people in the organization. Everyone knows the designers speak for Steve because they have direct reporting to him. It is only at Apple where design reports directly to the CEO.
Some companies view "product management" as the group that builds what other groups (marketing, sales, account management) want. Let the designers and product people drive the ship. Might be surprised what you get.
You can read the whole Sculley interview here. It gives a nice history of Apple since the early days, as well as a perspective on how Steve Jobs runs Apple.
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