162: The Fastest Path to Creating Value ft. Jason Houseworth

People of Product

Even the sharpest product managers can fall into the “project manager” trap. Jason Houseworth, CPO at OpenLane, believes it’s happening in the industry more than PMs care to admit. In this episode, hear Jason’s view on why people tend to get caught up in managing activities instead of creating value. We cover using AI as a collaboration partner (instead of a tool), thinking like an entrepreneur in an enterprise environment, and getting uncomfortably close to the user. A killer combo to create value for your business.

Lean fully into the “value creator” mindset

Jason doesn't love the title "product manager" - and he’s got good reason. He's seen too many people fall into the trap of simply managing activities. It’s ironically one of the primary reasons PMs like differentiating themselves from project managers. But how well are we doing this as an industry?

“I don't want people to be a manager. I prefer just the term value creator, because that's what I expect people to pursue. I want you to create the fastest path to the most value. And what that means is you have to understand the user need you're solving for, and ultimately the value that you're creating for them.”

Activity does not equal benefit or value. As Jason reminds us, product managers can get endorphins by going down the checklist, but that does not mean that what you're actually doing is creating value for the end user.

2 traps that inhibit product excellence

* Letting others interpret your data - Whether it's qualitative feedback from users or quantitative insights from analytics, Jason believes product people need to get their hands dirty. "You need to be the one who is exploring the data and really pulling the thread in Domo or Mixpanel... You have to be there. You have to get your hands dirty."

* Using AI as just a tool - The mistake isn't using AI, it's thinking of it as just another tool. Really unlocking AI comes from thinking about it the same way you would a teammate or a collaboration partner.

Innovation = Proximity + Speed

Jason thinks of innovation as being relatively simple.

“If you take the people who are solving the need and you get 'em as close to the customer as possible, and then you shorten the iterations... then that, to me is really how you innovate. Because you're staying really close. You're listening and you're releasing a lot."

Even in enterprise environments, Jason advocates thinking like an entrepreneur. "I strongly believe that even if you're working for a large enterprise, you've gotta think like an entrepreneur. You've gotta think small."

Building psychological safety

Drawing from Google's Project Aristotle research, George & Jason talk about how the perfect teams aren’t what you'd necessarily expect.

"Do you think that the perfect team had the smartest people? No. And was it the overachievers? No. It was the people who were really good at reading into other people.”

This goes back to building psychological safety - environments where people trust each other enough to take risks and speak up regardless of hierarchy. In an environment where people trust one another, guess what happens? You feel like you can take risks. You can raise a challenge, talk about what is or isn't gonna work, and why.

What's exciting about the future

Jason's most excited about the democratization of prototyping through AI. His 21-year-old son built an entire platform in six hours using AI tools, got feedback from a Reddit community, and had paying customers within weeks. Gen Z and those that follow have been born into an age with miraculous technologies, and some are seizing the opportunity to do some neat things.

"To see somebody who understands how to build software, but to then be able to create something that solved a need so quickly and get feedback on it and know the parts that it's just kind of a tool that people aren't interested in... To be able to iterate like that in days because of generative AI. That's really exciting."

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