Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter

Packed to the gills with pragmatic frameworks, structured mad-libs, poignant advice, a delightful discussion of "product diseases", and a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom within product management: Dutt gives a gift to the product world. Before I get to the summary of the work, there are a few elements of this work that marks it as refreshing. First, while she uses case studies, they do not account for the bulk of the word content. They are quick and precise. Second, it's not entrenched in the B2C, Venture Capital world of Silicon Valley (though there are some examples). She repeatedly draws on product examples that are not software and articulates how B2B software differs from B2C. It's hard to use a method designed for B2C when designing a B2B product! Finally, someone that says so! And last, but not least, she challenges conventional product wisdom. For example, Dutt situates MVP within the Radical Product Thinking framework-- between Strategy and Execution, because it's not sufficient by itself. And every Product Manager of B2B and mission-critical products rejoiced! Likewise, she challenges readers to critically reflect on their OKR's to ensure that they are measuring the right thing and demonstrating how they can go array. Here's the summary: R. Dutt catches a balance between strategy and tactics that few product thinkers have achieved. She starts by offering a quick vision mad-lib (similar to a "value proposition"), allowing readers to quickly write a vision statement without getting lost in the mechanics. Then, she moves to the next level down, providing a strategic framework to connect the why with the how. The Real pain points, Design, Capabilities, and Logistics (RDCL) framework is akin to a business model canvas/ lean canvas but much easier to read and use. Next up is a prioritization matrix that empowers the PM to communicate with both team members for execution and helps to align stakeholders. It's only then that she digs into the execution phase. This chapter comes with worksheets and structured statements that force the reader to articulate the connection between the strategy. She wraps up by talking about product influence on culture and the implications of ethics. In other words, she starts with the big picture of the product, goes down to execution level details, and then zooms back out to discuss and engage readers on the product big picture with its impact on the world that we live in! I can't wait to read it again.

What a gem this book is! How many times have you asked or heard someone else ask, “What do you mean by ‘product’?” Radhika Dutt’s simple yet powerful definition of product as a “mechanism to create change” has helped me see the real possibilities behind the transformation work I do. I’ve always believed in the power of a strong vision, but now I know how to apply it to my day-to-day activities and decisions. Now I know how to create products that are vision-driven. My team and I have already started using her RPT model that’s laid out so clearly in the book. I’ve found it to be easy to understand and apply. It’s truly reframing my mindset and giving my team a systematic way to change the world for our customers! If being vision-driven and creating world changing products excites you, then this book is for you. Radhika, thank you for changing my world with your product, Radical Product Thinking!

This books lives up to the name “RADICAL”. It is a paradigm shift in the way I think about product development. After reading, re-reading, taking Radhika’s course on Pendo and practicing it, I can confidently say the book is Steven Covey’s “7 habits of highly effective people” applied to Product Management. The authors give relevant examples and was easy to relate to the concepts.

Radhika Dutt's methodological approach to product management, outlined in Radical Product Thinking, provides great insight both to new entrepreneurs and product managers. Dutt's vision-driven approach is key and she focuses on execution as well as vision and strategy. Dutt not only shares her experience in this book, but also provides case studies based on interviews she conducted. This allows the reader to apply this helpful information to their day-to-day challenges whether they are in a high tech company or in a service business. Radical Product Thinking is not just a book you would read once. It describes a methodology that you would return to regularly and Dutt's radical product thinking movement provides important guidance when it comes to making tough decisions about building new products.

We are at the cusp of significant environmental, technological, societal, etc. challenges and changes. A large portion of these dilemmas have been self-inflicted, potentially inevitable but definitely the result of a local maximum thinking. While a number of pieces in the book may not be new (as some other reviewers commented), the author diagnosed the problem clearly and compiled a clear, personable and easy to understand path forward as a significant big step into a philosophy we sorely need. The author provides a simple framework and a series of steps anybody, any team or organisation can follow to start aligning towards a global maximum, to come out stronger from this ongoing paradigm shift. Highly recommended to anybody trying to make a change (leaders, etc.) or being put in a position where they can (e.g. progressing from junior roles) as a foundation. Can’t wait to see how the author will flesh out the foundation of a philosophy shared here.

Let's face it, most books on Product Management are about a very specific kind of product, written BY a very specific kind of person, FOR a very specific kind of person. Radhika Dutt's book is the most impactful thing I've read on the art of Product Management as being about the art of influence and impact, whether it's through technology, government, or even wine.

Loved the structure laid out in this book. It works just as well when your “product” is a policy or even your organization’s culture. A great guide to meaningful work.

I agree with Radhika Dutt that "product" is a way of thinking, not a job title or function. "Whether you work in a nonprofit, a government organization, a service provider, research, a high-tech startup, or freelancing, you have a product. Our traditional view of a product as a physical or virtual object is outdated." That is, if the objective of marketing is to create or increase demand for what you offer, product is what you deliver. It could be a dining experience, a series of rides at an amusement park, or a haircut. According to Dutt, "Radical Product Thinking (RPT) means finding the global [i.e. market share] maximum by thinking about the change you want to see in the world. Your product then is an improvable system to bring about that change. In RPT your product is led by the vision for the change it's intended to create. A radical product is vision-driven and has a clear reason for being, which drives strategy, prioritization, anx execution. RPT offers organizations [and individuals] a clear guide to developing this mindset so each of us can build vision-driven products." Those who read this book would be well-advised to view visionary thinking in context of this observation by Thomas Edison: "Vision without execution is hallucination." As I worked my way through the narrative, I was again reminded of the work of Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the "Green Revolution." Borlaug was awarded multiple honors for his work, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal. He is credited with saving more than a billion people worldwide from starvation. He had a compelling vision and was driven by a total commitment to making it a reality. These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also offered to suggest the scope of her coverage: o Lean methodology (Pages 27-28 & 101-103) o Radical vision statement for desired change (52-56) o Radical vision statements (52-57 & 90-91) o Vision questions: HOW, WHAT, WHEN, WHO & WHY (52-77) o How to craft your own RDCL strategy (65-76) o Prioritization and decision-making in organizations (78-94) o Execution and measurement by organizations (95-111) o Hypothesis-driven execution and measurement (97-101) o Goal setting: Objectives and key results (103-107) o RPT approach to measurement instead of goal-setting (107-110) o Motivation (112-113 & 158-162) o RPT framework for culture (114-122) o Biased behaviors/inequality (138-139, 161-162, & 177-179) o AI algorithms (141-142) o Ethics of creating digital solution products (149-166) o Prisoner's dilemma (154-157) o Nash Equilibrium (157-162) o Revi Menon (157-162 & 169-173) o Hippocratic Oath of product ethical issues (162-166) o Radical Product Thinkers translating vision into action (169-179) Throughout her lively and eloquent narrative, Radhika Dutt provides an abundance of valuable information that will help her reader to understand HOW vision-driven products can create transformative change and helps to recognize the need for Radical Product Thinking in the given organization; she also identifies and explains the responsibility that comes with the "superpower" of building vision-driven products. Her book is a brilliant achievement. My brief commentary concludes with these comments by Kenya's Wangari Maathai when she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her life's work: "In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now." Yes, it is.

I wasn’t expecting such a conscious, enlightening and ethical approach to product development (thinking). I’ve loved all examples of projects that worked or didn’t work and the whys. I’m very impressed by the stress on the product responsibility. We are responsible for the consequences brought to the society by the technologies we create/develop/support, even as users in our daily life.

Ms Dutt clearly knows her matter, much of the learning her book delivers is obviously from hard-earned personal experience. Aside from the practical tips and do-it-yourself help the book provides it also gave me (admittedly I am not a product specIalist,, merely an entrepreneur) a framework for understanding product thinking. Which is of course business thinking — where the rubber really hits the road in almost all businesses. Highly recommended.

perfekt. Gotta take this woman’s courses

This is one of those books where as you read it, you think "of course, this is obvious" but in fact it wasn't obvious until the author stated it. The author has managed to balance both broad principles with hands-on applications. It is well worth also getting the free toolkit that goes with the book. These templates look deceptively simple but are incredibly useful. For me this book crystalised a lot of amorphous ideas and concepts about product vision and product development. I had several critical a-ha moments where previously I had known the direction a product was taking was not ideal, but the framework provided in the book gave me a whole new way of articulating the issues and allowed me to take the product in a whole new and so much better direction. Obviously the title should give it away, this is not for people who simply want to 'dial it in' but for people who care about the work they are doing and want to up their product game.

Product has been important to me throughout my career. When I started out we didn't really have any structure for it a lot of the time. In my first role "product" happened when engineers with communication skills met sales people with some tech savvy and we thrashed out what to build for customers that would create value. Often in the pub. In the intervening decades product has gradually become much more defined as a discipline, but a lot of the thinking I have read and seen promoted has been focused on SaaS and consumer web, and iterative or incremental development. It hasn't been a great fit for my favourite type of product which is based on commercialising deep tech innovation! There are some amazing people I've worked with on this type of product thinking - but they aren't the ones writing books and headlining conferences. I had the privilege of meeting Radhika Dutt in a small group a month or so ago. Talking to someone passionate about product beyond the narrow confines of SaaS and consumer web felt like a breath of fresh air. I have just finished reading her book Radical Product Thinking. I've already started using in my work to give shape to and language to things we were doing intuitively, and to improve how we work. I'd recommend it for anyone working in deep tech, on big ideas, or wanting to build product that genuinely makes the world a better place without contributing to enshitification and digital pollution.