I stopped chasing velocity and started building with vision.
1. Iteration Isn’t Strategy
Before reading Radical Product Thinking, I believed good product development meant iterating quickly, staying lean, and reacting fast to user feedback.
But speed without direction just leads to more pivots, not progress.
“Iteration without vision is just a series of course corrections without a destination.”
This idea reframed how I approached prioritization and roadmapping. I now treat vision as the anchor, not the afterthought.
2. A Product Is a Mechanism for Change
One of the most powerful concepts from the book is this:
A product isn’t just a thing you build — it’s the way you create change in the world.
That means every design decision, feature, or roadmap item should ladder up to a clearly defined purpose.
I’ve learned to ask: “What change is this feature driving?” instead of “What will this help us ship?”
3. Diagnosing Product Disease
The book outlines common product “diseases” patterns of dysfunction that lead to vision drift:
Hero Syndrome: Building for attention, not value
Obsessive Sales Disorder: Prioritizing deals over direction
Strategic Swelling: Growing scope without focus
Hypermetricemia: Obsessing over metrics that don’t matter
Now, I actively watch for these in projects. They’ve become part of how I audit teams and product decisions.
4. From Speed to Vision
Most product teams are good at building fast.
But velocity without vision just leads to beautifully shipped confusion.
Since reading the book, I’ve made vision a first-class citizen:
I begin projects with a clear, problem-centered product vision
I test new ideas against that vision before they reach a roadmap
I balance short-term survival with long-term product integrity
5. How I Apply It Now
Here’s how Radical Product Thinking shows up in my work today:
Vision-First Discovery: Starting every engagement by defining the change we want to drive
RDCL Strategy Mapping: Using the RDCL framework (Real Pain, Design, Capabilities, Logistics) to align teams
Vision Debt Audits: Regularly checking whether decisions still match our original purpose
Leading Metrics: Focusing on behavior and feedback over vanity KPIs
6. Final Thoughts
Radical Product Thinking gave me something few books ever do:
a mental model I use every day.
It helped me shift from building fast to building with focus.
From reacting to leading.
From shipping features to solving real problems.
If you work in product, strategy, or design I highly recommend reading it.
It may just change how you work, too.