Product managers can effectively balance the desire to create innovative change and limit customers’ resistance to change through a number of strategies. First, they need to accept that user resistance is somewhat inevitable when implementing large change. Acceptance and adoption will be slow, so companies (and their PMs) need to manage accordingly and be conscious of the rate at which they’re depleting resources. For instance, the reading references how TiVo–which required much greater behavior change from customers–seemed to burn through its capital too quickly, although its product likely was a “long-haul innovation.” Additionally, if possible, companies should try to eliminate (or reduce the popularity of) competitor products (although this is much more feasible in a government-regulated context).
The phenomenon of “loss aversion” makes customers consider products that they don’t have to be of lower value than products they already own. Product managers can utilize this knowledge to make products that are similar to or build upon products that their users already own. New features should be both similar and innovative, adding on users’ pre-existing products and features.
Similarly, feature creep occurs when too many features are added in an excessive manner, ultimately reducing usability and hurting the user experience. Product managers need to be aware and informed of the state of their products/features, and conduct routine check-ins to keep the big picture in mind (instead of getting caught up in the details and making changes that ultimately accumulate). In addition, product managers need to know when to reject proposals and keep a strong balance.
