“Values are like fingerprints. Nobodies are the same but you leave them all over everything you do.”

Elvis Presley

“Values” – each organisation has got them. Whether they’re explicit or implicit, strong company values underpin everything a business does (and doesn’t do). “Serve Our Users” for instance is a core value articulated in the Google Code of Conduct: “Our users value Google not only because we deliver great products and services, but because we hold ourselves to a higher standard in how we treat users and operate more generally.”

As product managers we use product principles, a clear set of standards and goals that connect company values with the outcomes that we’re trying to achieve, both for customers and our company. Before we look at example product principles, I believe it’s important to cover some terminology first:

• Product principles – Specific principles that affect product development and decision-making.
• Design principles – Specific principles that drive product design, both in terms of the user interface and the experience. For instance, companies have design principles around their app content or navigation.
• General product principles – Those principles which apply to building great products and whicvh are agnostic to company values and apply to every product.

Granted, lots of of people seem to talk about design and product principles interchangeably, but I treat them very much as two distinct concepts. For instance, “we’re always 100% transparent with our users” I see as a good example of a product principle, and one that which subsequently drive the design of the product or service as well as many other aspects of the product. Here are some key things to bear in mind with respect to product management principles:

1. What to use product principles for? – Product principles can be very valuable at each stage of the product lifecycle, whether the product is at the idea stage or being considered for termination. In my experience, product principles ultimately help with decision making. Questions such as “should we add feature A or B?” or “which channels should we use for this product?”, can all be determined with the guidance of the overarching product principles.
2. Who should use product principles? – Everybody in the business. Just as much as company values apply to all employees, I believe that product principles work the same. To think that product principles sit exclusively within the domain of a product person feels limiting. People across the business are involved in the product and should therefore at least be aware of the product principles.
3. What do good product principles look like? – In essence, good product principles should (1) link closely to the overall company mission and values (2) be concrete enough to enable decision making (3) be easy to remember and (4) be specific enough within the context of customer outcomes. For example, at ecommerce platform Shopify the mission is “to make commerce better for everyone, no matter where they’re located or their level of experience.” From this mission statement, Shopify has derived its (product) principles: (1) put merchants first (2) empower but don’t overwhelm (3) build a cohesive experience and (4) be polished but not ornamental.

                                                    Image Credit: Polaris Shopify 

Main learning point: Whilst I appreciate that values, design and product principles are often being talked about in the same breadth, I do recommend looking at product principles as its own concept. Well defined product principles can add a lot of value to product development and collaboration throughout the product lifecycle.

Related links for further learning:

1. https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/06/applying-product-principles-guide-better-product-decisions/
2. https://svpg.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Example-Principles.pdf
3. https://svpg.com/the-product-manifesto/
4. https://uxcellence.com/2015/product-principles
5. https://medium.com/@ElWexicano/product-principles-better-products-65e64f784c2b
6. https://inside.6q.io/190-examples-of-company-values/
7. https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html
8. https://medium.com/etsy-design/creating-etsys-design-principles-4faf31914be3
9. https://www.jasonshen.com/2014/no-silver-bullets-etsys-randy-hunt-on-product-design/
10. https://polaris.shopify.com/guides/principles
11. https://medium.com/@ElWexicano/product-principles-better-products-65e64f784c2b