Murali Rangarajan

The ongoing debate between data-driven decision-making and being data-informed continues to captivate the product management community. From my personal experience, data has always served as a powerful tool in navigating the intricacies of decision-making, particularly in overcoming the challenges of indecisiveness. This holds true regardless of whether the product is targeted towards B2B or B2C markets. However, it is important to acknowledge that relying exclusively on data may not always result in the most optimal decision-making outcomes. Let me provide an example to illustrate this point: In a previous role where I was responsible for a leading enterprise search product, we introduced an advanced query feature that quickly gained traction and showed promising usage. The feature appeared to be popular, and the application efficiently handled a flurry of complex search requests. However, upon engaging with users, we discovered that many struggled with the complexity of the queries and desired the ability to modify or refine them. Without a seamless way to edit and relaunch searches, users ended up launching multiple versions of the same query repeatedly. This issue wouldn't have been apparent through data analysis alone; it required direct user interaction to uncover. Failing to identify this early on would have led to celebrating premature success and exacerbating user frustration down the line. On the other hand, relying solely on intuition with limited data is not advisable, especially when entering a new domain or industry. Without adequate experiential or foundational knowledge to guide intuition, incorporating data—both qualitative and quantitative—can foster a better understanding of users and the product over time. This understanding serves as a prerequisite for cultivating intuition. This approach allows you to validate your decisions against your intuition and even question the accuracy of the data if your instincts suggest inconsistencies. Ultimately, the crux lies in striking a delicate balance—embracing the tangible wisdom offered by data while cultivating the experiential acumen necessary for intuition to flourish.