I'm Not a Product Sniper - I'm a Product Ape with a Shotgun
Product is a funny thing. Half of the Product people you meet think they are the modern reincarnation of Steve Jobs, stroking their chins and directing the movements of teams with a belief that their near perfect vision of the customer is enough. Their insight's been garnered through countless customer conversations, tech publications, and their inexplicable gut feeling. Truly, they are beyond reproach. That is, until their product meets the real world.
That's not me.
I treat feature release like a sea turtle treats getting babies to the ocean. I release, release, release, release knowing some of my features are going to get gobbled up. I figure the law of numbers will eventually work in my favor where if most new product ideas fail, then eventually you can roll the dice enough.
The former Product people treat each feature release as though they were a sniper - carefully lining up their shot, making each a long drawn out affair, all to get one final sweet payoff. This is often effective with legacy products or internal product development.
However, for new product development (which I do), I treat it like I've been given five minutes to hit my target. If I only had five minutes to hit a target, then would I treat it as a careful sniper? No - not a chance. I would rain enough lead down that something would eventually hit it.
That is what achieving product market fit is like for new products. You don't have a perfect, clean target sitting in front of you, clearly marked, and waiting to be hit.
Your target is hiding in a bush while it is raining and you're standing on ice half-blind from someone else shining a flashlight in your eye.
So, I choose to blast away.
That's not to say I shouldn't understand the product, the consumers, or the tech. You should, but you should treat each new product feature release as less of a mandate from God and more of an experiment.
You have to hit that target, so blast away.