How the Best PMs THINK Differently? (Part 1): Secrets from Google, Swiggy, CRED and Paytm

Unlock the mindset, strategies, and frameworks that top product leaders use to build game-changing products. Learn what separates great PMs from the rest!

Ever shipped a feature just because your competitor did? or because your boss had a “brilliant” idea? But here’s the hard truth: features don’t fix problems—understanding users does.

It’s a common pitfall:

we get excited about building something fast but forget to validate why we’re building it at all.

This one tweet shows how you can approach product thinking the right way.

In product management, good PMs might ship a slew of features each quarter. But great PMs do something else: they consistently solve the right problems. This requires two key capabilities:

• Product Thinking: The methodical, system-driven approach that pinpoints and defines user pain points before building.

• Product Sense: The intuitive knack for understanding what will feel natural and valuable to real people—even without complete data.

In simple words,

Product Thinking = deeply understanding “Why?”
Product Sense = knowing “How?” to make solutions feel effortless to users.

Combine the two, and you’ll consistently deliver meaningful, impactful experiences.

In this post (PART 1), we’ll break down:

• Why Product Thinking is the foundation of impactful product management.

• How to differentiate Problem Space from Solution Space.

• The frameworks that help you ship meaningful products (not just ship for the sake of it).

• Real-world case studies where product thinking changed the game—and where ignoring it led to failure.

By the end, you’ll have a practical roadmap for ensuring every new feature or product launch moves the needle.

WHY PRODUCT THINKING MATTERS MORE THAN EVER?

BUT

First…..what is product thinking?

Product thinking is seeing the world through the lens of problems and solutions.

As perfectly stated by Naren Katakam….Product thinking is the journey from the users' problem space to the business's solution space.

This journey aims to shrink the gap between what users need and what the business delivers.

• Problem Space ("what" needs to be solved): Where you identify and deeply understand user pains, motivations, and contexts.

• Solution Space ("how" to solve it.): Where you ideate, prototype, test, and refine solutions that address those pains.

Key points to remember:

• Problem Space Focus:

  • User research to uncover pain points

  • Defining the core problem

  • Identifying the target audience

  • Understanding the context of the problem

• Solution Space Focus:

  • Generating potential solutions

  • Prototyping and testing different concepts

  • Evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of solutions

  • Choosing the best solution to implement

Why it's important:

• Customer-Centric Design: You build what users truly need.

• Innovation Potential: Deep exploration can unearth hidden opportunities.

• Effective Development: Teams move faster and more cohesively when the problem is crystal clear.

Signs You’re Ignoring Product Thinking

Even the best PMs can slide into “solution-first” territory, but as our TOP PRODUCT LEADER like Shreyas Doshi keeps mentioning, great PMs are problem-obsessed rather than solution-obsessed.

Below are a few red flags that hint you might be missing the mark:

1. You Keep Copying Competitors

   • If your main argument is “They built it, so should we,” you might be ignoring user needs.

2. Feature Factory Syndrome

   • If you ever feel like you’re cranking out features every sprint, but the key performance metrics—like user engagement or retention—aren’t budging? You might be caught in the trap of a “feature factory.”

3. No Clear Success Metrics

   • Have you ever launched a feature and then wondered, “How do I know if this worked?” If you’re not measuring impact, you’re likely building in the dark.

4. Lack of Root-Cause Analysis

   • Every time a user complaint pops up, do you immediately think of building a feature to “fix” it? While it might seem responsive, this approach often only scratches the surface.

Product Thinking fails when you chase checklists instead of understanding pain points.

If any of these signs sound familiar, it might be time to step back, reassess your product strategy, and focus on solving the real problems.

Great PMs don't just add features—they create solutions that genuinely improve the user experience.

How can ‘product thinking’ help alleviate this situation?

1. Avoiding Feature Traps

One of the biggest pitfalls in product development is shipping new features just to fill a roadmap. They look good in an update but often don’t solve the actual user problem.

Take Snapchat’s redesign in 2018 as an example.

Snapchat decided to separate social (friends) from media content (publishers) in its interface. The rationale? A cleaner layout might drive higher engagement and retention.

Snapchat’s assumption? — A cleaner interface would drive more user retention.

But the real problem wasn’t the layout — it was that Snapchat’s algorithm wasn’t surfacing the most relevant content to users.

Result? Massive backlash.

• Over 1 million signatures on a petition demanded the old version back.

• Celebrity influencers publicly criticized the redesign, turning it into a PR storm.

• Engagement initially dropped, though Snapchat refined the experience rather than fully rolling it back.

The takeaway?

Features don’t fix problems—understanding users does.

UI tweaks alone won’t fix deeper content relevance or usability gaps. Always verify the real user pain—in this case, confusion around mixing messages and Stories, and frustration with how the algorithm surfaced content.

2. Focusing on “Why?”

The best PMs don’t start with "What can we build?" but with "Why does this matter to users?" This single question often unravels the real pain points and leads to simpler, more effective solutions.

E.g. Netflix India’s Mobile-Only Plan Case

When Netflix entered India, it struggled with low adoption rates. The problem? Subscription plans were priced too high compared to local competitors like Hotstar and Prime Video, where users could watch content for free or at much lower prices.

Netflix could have added more features or expanded its content library, but those weren’t the real blockers.

Instead, they asked: "Why aren’t Indian users subscribing?"

The real insight?

• A large segment of Indian users primarily watched content on mobile and didn’t feel the need for a TV or multi-device plan.

• Price sensitivity was a major factor—most users weren’t willing to pay ₹500+ per month. ₹500/month was too high compared to Hotstar’s ₹399/year plan.

Solution:

Instead of overbuilding, In 2019, Netflix introduced a mobile-only subscription priced at ₹199 per month—a result of extensive A/B testing and market research.

This was a strategic move to cater to the highly price-sensitive and mobile-first Indian market:

Result?

• Higher adoption rates among first-time subscribers

• Better market penetration, helping Netflix stay competitive

However, Netflix continues to refine its strategy………..Beyond pricing, Netflix pursued localized content (Bollywood and regional shows) and bundling deals with telecom providers to increase accessibility.

Takeaway

Real success comes from truly solving users’ problems — whether it’s about price, device usage, or something else. Always ask “Why aren’t they using it?” before deciding “What do we build next?”

Source: Netflix India Case Study

3. The Role of First-Principles Thinking

The most effective product managers strip down assumptions and ask:

“If we started from scratch, how would we solve the real pain point?”

This approach often leads to innovative solutions that break from the status quo. One of the best examples of this in India’s e-commerce story is Flipkart’s Cash on Delivery (CoD).

The Problem: Why Weren’t Indians Shopping Online?

When Flipkart launched in the late 2000s, e-commerce was struggling in India. The global model assumed: “Online shopping requires online payments.”

But in India, this didn’t work because of the main reasons:

• Low credit/debit card penetration – Most users simply couldn’t pay online.

• Lack of trust – Users feared fraud, fake products, and undelivered orders.

Many companies saw this as a dead-end.

BUT

Flipkart saw an opportunity.

Rather than waiting for India’s payment infrastructure to evolve, Flipkart looked at the problem through first-principles thinking: “What if users could pay AFTER receiving the product?”

By letting people inspect the item first and pay in cash, Flipkart effectively tackled both payment barriers and trust issues at once.

The Solution: Cash on Delivery (CoD)

Although Flipkart wasn’t the first to introduce CoD—startups like IndiaPlaza (2000) and Rediff Shopping tried it earlier—it was Flipkart that popularized and scaled the model to become a standard across Indian e-commerce. They did so by:

• Partnering with Courier Companies to securely handle cash transactions.

• Offering Easy Returns & Refunds to reduce user anxiety around online orders.

• Allowing Inspect-Before-Payment to reassure buyers about product quality.

The Impact?

• Rapid Adoption: CoD sparked a huge surge in online shopping, bringing new customers who wouldn’t have otherwise shopped online.

• Trust Building: Enabling payment on delivery eliminated distrust, proving e-commerce was safe and reliable.

• Industry Standard: Competitors like Amazon and Myntra quickly followed suit, making CoD an essential offering in India.

The Takeaway?

First-principles thinking doesn’t accept “how things are done”—it asks, “What truly solves the problem?”

Source: How Flipkart Introduced Cash on Delivery to India

ANATOMY OF PRODUCT THINKING: A STEP-BY-STEP LOOK

Let's explore the Anatomy of Product Thinking through the journey of Google Photos, a product that emerged from deep user understanding and thoughtful problem-solving.

1. Root-Cause Analysis: Uncovering the Real Problem

When faced with a recurring issue, the instinct is often to add more features or copy competitors. Instead, the smarter approach is to dig deeper:

• “What’s truly blocking our users?”

• “Which frustration drives them to cancel, churn, or complain?”

In the early 2010s, photo-sharing was becoming increasingly popular, but users faced significant challenges:

• Storage Limitations: Smartphones had limited storage, making it difficult to store large photo libraries.

• Organization Issues: Users struggled to organize and find specific photos amidst thousands of images.

• Sharing Complexities: Sharing multiple photos with friends and family was often cumbersome and time-consuming.

The Surface-Level Assumption:

"People need more storage space for photos."

Why is this a bad problem statement?

Because it only addresses one part of the issue—storage. Even if storage were unlimited, users would still struggle to find and share their photos efficiently.

What did Google Photos do instead?

They went deeper into why users struggled with photos in the first place.

Key Question: “What prevents users from reliving and sharing their best memories effortlessly?”

This shifted the focus from “more storage” to “less effort.”

Define a Problem That Makes You Slightly Uncomfortable

A superficial problem statement might be: "Users need more storage for their photos."

However, the team reframed it to:

"Users are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos, making it challenging to organize, find, and share meaningful moments. How can we simplify this experience?"

This deeper problem statement pushed the team to think beyond simple storage solutions and address the holistic user experience of photo management.

Before diving into solutions, it's crucial to articulate a clear hypothesis:

Before diving into solutions, Google Photos needed a clear, testable hypothesis about user behavior.

Instead of: “We believe that by implementing automatic organization and advanced search features, users will find it easier to manage and share their photos, leading to increased user satisfaction and engagement.”

A better hypothesis would be:

• It doesn’t assume a specific feature is the right solution (e.g., automatic organization).

• It focuses on the real problem first—retrieving important memories from an overwhelming library.

• It’s testable—you can measure engagement changes after solving retrieval friction.

Takeaway for PMs: Before building anything, frame a hypothesis that challenges assumptions and focuses on changing user behavior, not just adding features.

2. Systems and User Thinking: Fixing the Whole Experience for the User, Not Just One Part

When users struggle with a product, it's tempting to fix one piece of the puzzle—but true product thinkers ask:

"What is the entire system at play here?"

Most photo apps before Google Photos focused on one problem at a time:

• More storage? → Increase cloud space.

• Better organization? → Let users create albums.

• Easier sharing? → Add a ‘Share’ button.

The problem? Users don’t think in silos.

They don’t wake up and say:

• “I wish I had more cloud storage.”

• “I need better folder management.”

Instead, they just want to relive and share their best moments effortlessly—without worrying about where their photos are stored or how they’re organized.

Diving Into User Behavior: Look Beyond What They Say

Here’s where most product teams go wrong: they listen to what users say instead of watching what users do.

Surveys might tell you what people say they want……For example, if Google Photos had just asked,

“Do you want better photo organization?”

Most users would have said….yes.

But in reality, users don’t want to spend time organizing photos at all.

So instead of relying on surface-level feedback, Google Photos likely took a behavior-first approach:

→ Shadowing Sessions: Watching users scroll through their photo libraries in real time revealed that they rarely used albums and instead relied on endless scrolling.

→ The Mom Test: Instead of asking

“Would you use an AI-powered photo organizer?”,

they might have asked……..“The last time you wanted a specific photo, how did you find it?”

By studying how users searched for photos, they uncovered the real problems

and

instead of solving just one problem at a time, Google Photos redesigned the entire user journey by focusing on how users experience their memories.

— Users don’t want to organize photos manually → So Google Photos eliminated manual effort with AI-driven organization.

• Face grouping, location-based tagging, and automatic album creation made categorization effortless.

— Users don’t want to "search"—they want instant recall → So Google Photos built intelligent search.

• Users could type “Mom’s birthday 2019” or “beach trip” and instantly retrieve relevant photos.

— Users don’t want more storage—they want to stop worrying about storage → So Google Photos introduced unlimited cloud backup (initially free).

• This meant users never had to manually delete photos or transfer them between devices.

— Users don’t want to forget great moments—they want to relive them → So Google Photos proactively resurfaced old memories.

• The “Rediscover this day” feature brought back meaningful moments without users having to dig for them.

By thinking system-wide,

Google Photos didn’t just “fix” storage, organization, or sharing—

— it eliminated the need for users to think about these problems in the first place.

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Key Takeaways for PMs

• Solve the entire workflow, not just one pain point.

• Users don’t care about features—they care about effortless experiences.

• A great system works so smoothly that users don’t even notice it.

This is the essence of great product thinking—not just improving an experience, but redefining it entirely. 🚀

This wasn’t just a UI or logistics tweak but a system-level redesign.

3. Bridging the gap through the correct journey: The Product Thinking Mindset

Let’s get real for a moment.

At the heart of truly impactful product management lies the ability to bridge two worlds: the raw, unfiltered problem space and the innovative, user-pleasing solution space.

This is where the Product Thinking Mindset comes into play—

Once you’ve defined the problem with precision, the journey continues into the solution space—where you answer the “How?” This is where creativity meets data:

• Ideation and Prototyping: Generating a spectrum of potential solutions, then rigorously testing them through A/B tests, user sessions, and iterative feedback.

• User-Centric Design: Crafting solutions that aren’t just functional but feel natural and delightful to use. Here, your intuitive sense—what we call Product Sense—guides you to design experiences that resonate emotionally and practically with users.

Crafting the Bridge: A Step-by-Step Journey

1. Map Out the Journey: Visualize the user’s path from frustration to delight. Think of this process as constructing a bridge:

   • Left Bank (Problem Space): Identify the tangible and intangible issues users face—whether it’s cluttered interfaces, confusing workflows, or missed opportunities for engagement.

   • Right Bank (Solution Space): Envision a streamlined, intuitive experience where these problems vanish into the background, replaced by seamless interactions and delightful moments.

2. Iterate with Empathy and Data:
   A Product Thinking Mindset is not static. It requires continuous questioning and refining:

   • Empathy: Regularly engage with users to ensure the solution feels right—not just on paper but in real life.

   • Data-Driven Iteration: Validate your assumptions with hard data and user feedback. Every tweak should move the experience closer to that effortless, “magical” state where users barely notice the friction.

The Impact of Bridging the Gap

When you successfully bridge the gap between understanding user problems and delivering elegant solutions, you create products that do more than just add features—they transform experiences. This mindset has several profound effects:

• Customer-Centric Design: Every element of your product reflects a deep commitment to addressing real user needs.

• Innovation: By questioning assumptions and challenging conventional wisdom, you unlock opportunities for breakthrough improvements.

• Cohesive Teamwork: A shared understanding of the journey from problem to solution aligns teams, ensuring that everyone is working toward a singular, impactful goal.

In essence, the Product Thinking Mindset transforms product management from a checklist of features into a journey of continuous discovery and innovation. It’s the art of not just building solutions, but crafting experiences that resonate—making users wonder how they ever lived without them.

Embrace this mindset, and you’re not merely shipping products; you’re shaping experiences that drive loyalty, satisfaction, and lasting success.

Final Thoughts: Elevating Your Product Game

The story of Google Photos teaches us a critical lesson: great product thinking requires a holistic mindset.

It’s not enough to simply uncover the root problem; you must also design a solution that integrates flawlessly into the broader user experience.

When you combine deep, analytical inquiry with a system-wide approach, you create products that not only meet expectations but exceed them—products that truly elevate the way users live their lives.

Challenge: As you reflect on your own product decisions, ask yourself—are you merely adding features, or are you solving real problems by understanding the entire user journey?

Let Google Photos be a reminder that when you bind deep analysis with comprehensive design, you don’t just ship products—you deliver experiences that truly matter.

Coming Up Next: Part 2 — Product Sense

Where Product Thinking tackles the “why” and “what,” Product Sense deals with the “how it feels.” In Part 2, we’ll dive into:

• Identifying the intangible elements that make a product delightful.

• Balancing user emotion with hard data.

• Crafting user flows that feel magical, even if they solve mundane tasks.

Ready to elevate your product game? Stay tuned for Part 2!