What does it mean to have a “good eye” in Product?
What does it mean to have a “good eye” in Product?
“It’s hard to teach, although it can be learned.” (P. Canetti)
Over the years, various folks have told me that I have a “good eye”. Compliments are nice, but what does that mean? The phrase is used in sports, art, architecture, business, and my own Greek culture. I’m going to explore all of that a bit here.
I recently attended a panel discussion on product management that included Paul Canetti, Professor of Business at Columbia University. He was asked a question by the Ricki Singh, the McKinsey moderator. She asked “What differentiates the top 1% of product managers? Paul’s answer: “Taste. You can have all the data and the raw ingredients, but having the intuition to be in line with what the market wants…that’s taste.”
A lightbulb went off, and I realized that Paul’s “taste” was part of what I consider a “good eye”.
Symbolic meaning
I am intrigued by the phase “good eye” in part because the symbolic meaning of the 👁️ runs deep. It has appeared for millennia in religious, occult, and spiritual art. It’s at the top of the pyramid on the dollar bill. It represents Sauron’s all-seeing and all-knowing gaze in Middle Earth.
It is also on your forehead——your Third Eye that is. Understood as a bridge between the spiritual and physical world, it is said to represent a higher state of consciousness.
The symbolism of the eye is potent. Here are some other attributes associated with the eye:
Keen eyesight or visual accuracy. Excellent vision and observational skills, such as in finding Waldo or seeing subtle texture differences, for example
Discernment and perceptiveness. Keen judgment and the ability to assess situations quickly and accurately
Secret knowledge and power. Imagery for the mysterious social organizations the Illuminati and Freemasons feature the Eye of Provenance prominently.
Generosity and benevolence. The opposite of the Evil Eye, the "good eye" represents goodwill, blessings, and generosity towards others.
Window into one’s soul. The idea that studying the physical appearance of the eye can reveal truths about a person’s inner character.
“Good eye” was a term that I heard more in my first career as a landscape architect. It was used when a person had exhibited a combination of careful observation, visual clarity, aesthetic judgment, perceptive discernment, and the ability to identify details others might overlook. It was a bit of a catch-all non-specific compliment. A rough equation might look like:
Good eye = (👍 perceptive ability) x (👍 analytical assessment) x (👍 aesthetic judgment)
When I first began thinking about this article, I thought that a good eye meant the ability to sense balance from imbalance, equilibrium from disequilibrium or order from entropy. I still think this is true.
As my thinking evolved, I thought a good eye meant having good judgment in the dimensions of physical, psychological, moral, and aesthetic. I also think this is also true.
But what I think now is that when someone says you have a good eye in XYZ, they are ultimately letting you that they trust you to recognize (and curate or create) things of quality in XYZ. And it is an honor to be trusted.
Back to Product
Back to Product, here are some ways that I apply the idea of a good eye to product management. If the top 1% of product managers have a good eye, then I think they:
Spot emerging trends in time to develop timely and valuable solutions that are driven by actual underlying value rather than hyped news cycles
Have the ability to identify different types of red herrings and understand psychological and market insights from them
Develop accessible ways to visualize complex data that gives it value and insight to a broad audience
Have a knack for assessing character and finding substantial individuals: customers, partners, contractors, co-workers.
Be skilled at the art of helping others reach logical conclusions when presented with supporting evidence
Are able to rapidly update ideas when presented with new evidence or information
Overtly or intuitively understanding downstream consequences of decisions; knowing which decisions are consequential and require serious scrutiny and which can be made quickly
With a post on this subject, it’s tempting to end on a pun, but eye promise eye won’t do that. (Groan!)