The common mantra for building a product is to move quickly. Speed of execution is elevated to the level of being a “principle” and without it, you’re unlikely to go anywhere or build anything of value. The idea behind it seems reasonable: in the early days you’re not quite sure what works so by moving quickly to respond to feedback, you can presumably find that “thing” faster and then once you find it, you’re off to the races to scale whatever that “thing” is.

But customer feedback is complex. Henry Ford put it well when he said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The flip side to moving quickly on customer feedback is that you could very well be moving quickly in the wrong direction. Feedback is often laced with bias and personal experience that’s isolated to the individual’s needs, not a more holistic product experience.

You’ll hear some patterns in the feedback which seems promising, but extracting the signal from the noise is far closer to an art than a science. Few people are good at it. It’s also hard not to let some positive feedback excite you and pull you in a direction. The early days of working on a product feel a bit like trekking through a desert and that positive feedback is the occasional oasis. But it can’t be the basis for what you build, it’s just some inputs for the journey to building a truly exceptional product.

The subtle reality of building products is that you need to infuse some of yourself into it. Your own opinions, experiences, principles, and what you personally find to be missing in the problem space. You have to have a vision for what you want and weave your vision into the product. Without it, you’re another generic packaging of what already exists and building for that will be far more exhausting simply because you care less.

But infusing yourself into the products you build is not quick. You’re constantly ingesting feedback and then determining if that feedback is worth pursuing or if it doesn’t align with your vision for the correct way to solve a problem. More importantly, you have to spend time deciding if you should say no and saying no more often than saying yes is the path to cohesive product value.

So instead of pursuing speed in building a product, pursue consistency in building a product. Consistently making progress and more importantly, consistently infusing yourself and your principles into what you’re building. You’ll be far more energized by the outcome and hopefully far more successful.