Austin VOP #56: Kelly Lynn of HomeAway & Strong Opinions Weakly Held

Hi product people,

Kelly Lynn, principal product manager at HomeAway, had great advice about why you need confidence in your role as a product manager.
Read more in this edition of Austin VOP: Product Managers Need Confidence

Deeper Reading
I am sure you have heard the phrase - Strong opinions, weakly held. It is one that is so apt for product managers. Having the confidence to put forward your thinking, but being willing to amend it as you learn more about your users and markets. I recently learned that the origin for this phrase was Paul Saffo a Stanford professor and technology forecaster. He wrote about it first in 2008 on his website: Strong Opinions Weakly Held.
"Allow your intuition to guide you to a conclusion, no matter how imperfect — this is the “strong opinion” part. Then –and this is the “weakly held” part– prove yourself wrong. Engage in creative doubt. Look for information that doesn’t fit, or indicators that pointing in an entirely different direction. Eventually your intuition will kick in and a new hypothesis will emerge out of the rubble, ready to be ruthlessly torn apart once again. You will be surprised by how quickly the sequence of faulty forecasts will deliver you to a useful result."

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Cheers
Reza