myBasis Product Update appreciation
I only discovered the myBasis product at the weekend as a result of the Self-Hacking day but as I thought it was an interesting product idea I did a bit more reading around and discovered this post. Much of the information management within this post were interesting to me from a product management perspective.
it’s one thing to demo a prototype in our lab or a show like CES and another to endure the real world lives of everyday users
Good to see them thinking about the longer term use. This is also indicated in the following quote
Not only do we need to test our sensors, tweak algorithms and do the science work you’d expect, but there are many practical factors like water resistance, battery-life optimization, or, let’s say, the effect of the electro-static shock that can happen when walking on carpet in Minnesota in the winter
which shows they're thinking of scenarios and playing with the "what if" questions. And again, by
Seeing your data is important and will be interesting to some people for a while, but most of us need something more meaningful once the initial excitement of tracking your body fades. The long term benefits are determined by what insights you take away and whether you know what to do about them.
And then the penultimate paragraph is this
We have made the mistake before of hinting at our launch timing, so for now we are not offering a date. I’ll simply reinforce what you may have heard me say before: our priority is more on what we are launching than when. I know that leaves you wondering and that can be frustrating, but we want to bring you a product that you are not only excited to get on launch day, but one you’ll want to use every day after
which I think is excellently written. Firstly, admitting that you've previously hinted at a date that you can't commit to or guarantee, and therefore explaining that you don't want to do that again, and then reiterating that your focus is in on the what, and getting that right for the long term.
In all, this seems like quite a brave post for them to make, but from a product management perspective it's a fascinating read, and I come away with a lot of respect for them.