Adam Smith introduced the metaphor of an invisible hand guiding economic forces when collectively, individuals shape the economy by exchanging their money for something they value more. Acting individually, they collectively contribute to what we would now call organic growth trends. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith states “He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it…he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” In other words, by acting in their own self interest, individuals unwittingly power something greater than themselves to a natural outcome.

Here, if we substitute the word “product” for “individual” we see the power of good product development. By acting selfishly and focusing on the good of a single increment/feature/product, we guide the invisible hand for better or worse towards a natural economic outcome.

Acting collectively, the invisible hand of product is seen in the same way we see the invisible hand of economics. Good products, like stable economies, are built through discovery of self interest. Iteration by iteration, the Product team guides the course of development to solve problems.

Drilling down into the backlog, the user stories are inherently selfish. “As a user, I want x so I can do y.” Zooming out to the strategic roadmap level, we see the impact of each individual decision and backlog item. We can, and should, validate each hypothesis and measure the impact to ensure that the invisible hand guiding our products are guiding us to a profitable outcome.

It could just as easily be the opposite: we could set our sights on a product that isn’t rooted in earnest discovery, charging forwards with a vision that hasn’t been validated to solve a customer problem. In this case, we must be prepared for the invisible hand of product to deal us a rude slap in the face when we see that our resources have been misplaced. 

Either way, the underlying force of product development is there. The work we task our teams with will result in something. The question is what: will our vision be guided to product/market fit, or will be find ourselves empty-handed?  

Like economics, the principle of the invisible hand exists not to direct our course of action one way or another. Rather, it’s a force to be aware of, helping us understand the role of the individual/user in the greater scope of the economy/product.

Just something to think about.