Building a solid product, or even building a solid product team, takes time. If you’re responsible for a product and you don’t understand this, it’s going to be a difficult time for both you and the team.
Here’s an analogy. Races aren’t won on race day. They’re won or lost on all the days leading up to it. Race day is where you show how hard you’ve worked on all the little, seemingly inconsequential tasks. I’ve seen some people show up on race day and think they can just push themselves harder than anybody else. But their lack of dedication and commitment shows quickly and they get left behind. You’ll usually hear these people say “we didn’t work hard enough in the race” completely missing the point that excellence is a day-to-day habit. It’s incremental. It’s trying to get .5% better every day, and even that is exceedingly difficult to do. A tiny improvement every day completely changes the end results you’re able to achieve, and, in my opinion, they stick with the team over time. It’s the same with a product and the team building it. Tiny changes make a big difference in the long run.
