Inversion thinking and theory is as old as Mathematics. There exists a variety of inverse operations in mathematics. For instance, Division is the inverse of Multiplication; Subtraction is the inverse operation of Addition etc.
In Algebra, the inverse function is one that reverses another function. It undoes the operation of the original function i.e.
f(x) = y <=> g(y) = x; where f(x) is the original function and g(x) is the inverse function
Inversion applied in real world is less exact or less approximate as it is in mathematics; after all, life always has an element of surprise. Nonetheless, practicing inversion thinking will surely do more harm than good as evidenced by Charlie Munger.
I invert all the time
Charlie Munger – well-known investor, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and friend to Warren Buffet has practiced Inversion Thinking for much of his life and credits much of his success to it.
Why Product Managers should incorporate Inversion Thinking?
As Product Managers, we prefer to forecast and project the beautiful experiences that our features will unlock upon launch. We state assumptions upfront, write our little one-pagers/product briefs; hopefully backed by some data, write PRDs, and then follow through with analytics to validate our assumptions. We do that over and over again. Sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong.
One of my beliefs is that product managers need to be right most of the time. The more right you are, the more credibility you build. The more credibility you build, the more your influence grows. The more your influence grows, the more career opportunities are afforded to you. Inversion thinking contributes to being right most of the time.
Rather than focusing solely on how to achieve Outcome X, it will behoove product managers to also think about how to avoid the opposite of the opposite of Outcome X.
How Product Managers can incorporate Inversion Thinking?
- State your assumptions then reverse it: Stating and justifying your assumptions is one of the first things you’re taught as a product manager. An even better practice is after stating your assumptions to ask yourself whether your assumptions are wrong and what to do if so. Doing this forces you to consider different perspectives and deepens your understanding of the problem being solved.
- Pre-mortems should be an integral part of a product’s development cycle: Post-mortems occur at the end of a product development phase. During post-mortems, teams reflect on project mistakes and failures so as to make adjustments on subsequent projects. Reflecting after an unsuccessful outcome is great practice. However; rather than cry over spilt milk, a more beneficial practice is to imagine ways a project or launch could fail at the onset and mitigate that. If you perform your pre-mortems properly, your post-mortems will be less-involved. For more information on how to run a Pre-mortem, review this great article by Shreyas Doshi.
Great Product Managers think not only forward but backward
Practicing Inversion Thinking is easier said than done. To use a sport’s metaphor, it’s one of those efforts that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. Yet it’s a greater indicator of success than many alternatives. It’s easy to gloat about how your assumptions were spot-on than it is to discuss the intangible loss-minimization efforts that led to a desired outcome.
Inversion thinking doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t make big bets; after all, that’s the fun part of product management. While failure should be encouraged especially when it comes to big bets; at a certain point, failure does become quite expensive. Herein lies the value of inversion thinking and its de-risking mechanism.
If you actively practice inversion thinking to the point that it becomes habitual, you’ll get closer to realizing those big bets…not only in your product career but in your life as well 😊
Invert! Always Invert!!
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