Forget the belts, forget the katas
Product Management lessons from Kenjutsu (I)
My first kenjutsu lesson was an eye-opener, and not because I left with any semblance of grace or skill. Frankly, I was as coordinated as a newborn orangutan trying to shake a stick. But what really stuck with me was the philosophy of my sensei, a man devoid of affectation and BS. "Forget the belts, forget the endless katas," he said. "If you want to survive a fight with a sword, show me you can master four moves. That's all a samurai needed in a real battle. That’s all you need now."
This got me thinking about the current landscape of Product Management. And the endless parade of LinkedIn gurus and certification schools.
Like martial arts students obsessed with accumulating belts, some PM professionals constantly seek frameworks and techniques that promise the world but deliver little in the way of meaningful combat readiness.
I'm talking about the 100-kata blackbelts of the PM world.
The endless list of PM katas
Agile, but only in theory.
Lean, but without the substance.
Design Thinking, without thinking about design.
The SCRUM methodology, often reduced to stand-up comedy sessions.
The North Star, a metric that changes position faster than an artificial satellite.
User Journey Mapping: charting a path users deviate from at the first click.
The 5 Whys, to turn any problem into an existential quandary by the fourth why.
Value Proposition Canvas, but twisting the truth as a politician's campaign vows.
SWOT Analysis, but without admitting that your threats are just other companies doing your idea better.
Kano Model, yes, but failing to see your "delighter" is just another entry on the competitor's feature list.
OKRs or when ambition meets reality, and they don't get along.
Roses-Buds-Thorns, yes, but that Miro board looks like a cactus.
H.E.A.R.T: maybe it’s broken because no one uses it.
Pirate Metrics (AARRR), without realizing your ship is actually sinking (but hey, what a cool acronym!)
Minimum Viable Product (MVP): just because it’s raw, you call it sushi.
And so on.
The 5 Basic Katas of a Stoic Product Manager
In the pursuit of mastering the hundreds of PM techniques and frameworks, many people often lose sight of the core of product management—solving real problems for real people in a viable way.
This is all you need to master:
Focus on the user. Really. Not just lip service.
Understand your company’s goals, strategy, and market situation. You cannot delight users at all costs.
Know your product inside and out. Not just the shiny surface.
Communicate effectively. Cut through the noise and bring clarity to your stakeholders.
Learn fast. It doesn’t matter how. Validate your assumptions before investing further, and make decisions based on data, not just gut feelings or trends.
Everything else is noise.
The tools, methodologies, and frameworks won’t make you a better product manager, but how you use them to apply these principles will. And often, we won’t need anything else but a whiteboard and an empowered team.
Let's leave the endless pursuit of katas to those content with appearances. As stoics, we cannot lose perspective. Our dojo is the real world, our battles genuine, and our victories earned through wisdom and simplicity.
And the world doesn't need more black belts in fancy frameworks.
I have spoken.