产品经理们，遇到Bug请别十万火急

如果你希望成为一个失败的产品经理，在遇到bug时，请立即动手修复它。如果bug可以立即被修复，为何要一拖再拖？PM应该是一位“执行者”，而非总是纸上谈兵的“思考者”。当问题出现后，必须在第一时间搞定它。当然，这样做可能浪费大量的时间，也可能分散精力，不过这是一位PM的最佳时间分配方式，不是吗？

If you want to be a bad product manager, solve a problem as soon as it becomes apparent. Why let something linger when you can take care of it? A product manager needs to be seen as someone who will “do” things, not just “think” about them. When a problem comes along, you must fix it as soon as possible. Sure, you may spend a lot of your time in this way, and it may distract you from other things, though this is really the best use of your time, isn’t it?

如果你希望成为一个成功的产品经理，在遇到bug时，请不要总是立即着急的修复它。不可否认，我们在遇到问题时，总是迫不及待的想改正。然而事实上，其实根本不用那么的十万火急，理由如下：

If you want to be a good product manager, do not immediately solve every problem which presents itself. It is often tempting to fix an issue as soon as it appears, though there are many good reasons to not rush to address problems:

如果迅速解决了问题，你可能会忽略问题的根本原因。在大多数时候，每个问题都有其根本诱因。在问题刚暴露的时候，诱因一般深藏不露，有很多的可能性。笔者认为，根本诱因最可能来自于需求确认阶段。多篇文章都探讨了这方面的问题，比如： Stop Gathering Requirements, Follow up on requests to learn more, Find solutions that address multiple problems.

If you fix the problem right away, you may not be addressing the underlying issue that caused the problem in the first place. In fact, in most cases, there is a root cause which is likely not visible on first glance. This applies to many areas in product management, most notably in addressing requests from customers. This has been discussed here in several different posts, including Stop Gathering Requirements, Follow up on requests to learn more, Find solutions that address multiple problems.

同样，在产品管理的其他阶段，这个理论也适用。有些问题可以很容易就找到根本诱因，但产品开发的真正挑战来自各种不稳定的因素。例如，有时候一款漏洞百出的产品在上线之初，只暴露了冰山一角：一个很小的Bug，似乎十分容易解决。另一个例子，开发过程中，团队成员对各项功能的优先级有争议时，靠“民主投票”来做决策，而忘了引发争议的源头：对产品远景、战略及计划缺乏共识。

However, this concept applies to other areas of product management as well. There are many times when “points of pain” which are readily apparent can be traced back to root causes. Challenges within the product development process may be attributable to several factors. For example, releasing a product with many defects may initially appear to be a problem easily solved by adding additional Quality Assurance resources, though the real problem may be lack of appropriate details in product specifications. As another example, disagreements about prioritization for development work may cause many to push for a voting system, though the disagreements may be caused by an inconsistent view of the vision, strategy, and roadmap.

医生治疗的是疾病，而不是治疗症状（译注：治疗感冒或支气管炎，而非咳嗽）。医生的任务不是治标，而是治本。对于PM而言，道理一模一样。

In medicine, there is a saying that doctors should seek to treat the disease, not the symptoms, and product managers would be well served to follow this advice as well.

让问题暴露一段时间，或许是让大家认识到其严重性的唯一方法。很多父母都会说，他们的小孩吃一堑才长一智——例如，不去摸滚烫的炭炉——若小孩自己被炭炉烫伤一次后，他们自然会明白那东西是摸不得的。在产品开发过程中，存在着同样的道理。当你试图请同事修改或改进某功能时，你需要解释这是为了什么。如果大家不明白改进的意义，自然会无动于衷。

Letting the problem subsist for a period of time may be the only way to get others to realize its severity. Parents often tell tales of how their children learned what not to do — not to touch a stove, for example — by letting the children try it once and learn for themselves that it is a bad idea. A similar approach can be taken in product development. Whenever you try to convince people to change or implement new ideas, you need to show them why the changes you are proposing are needed. Without understanding the need for change, people will cling to the status quo.

举个例子，假设你发现团队使用的需求管理软件存在着很大的问题，假如你希望马上修改它，或许得花大量精力去告诉大家修改的意义，还得制作demo进行说明。但如果让这个需求管理软件继续运转一段时间，让它自己暴露出弱点，可能是一种更好的办法。因为需求管理软件的问题，在新产品上线前，你会发现有些最初制定的需求并没有实现。此时，你可以告知大家这些遗漏的需求，但是不需要为之耽误了上线时间。如果你是正确的，要不了多久，大家就会意识到，因为使用了那个糟糕的需求管理软件，才导致产品出现一些无法挽救的Bug。

For example, you may want to implement a requirements management tool because of the problems you see with how requirements are managed. Rather than spending all of your energy telling people why it is needed and doing demos of the various products, you may be better off letting the current requirements process show its weaknesses. Perhaps you have a new version of your product which is close to release, yet you know that there are requirements which were likely lost along the way. Instead of insisting that the release be held up, you can foreshadow the issues before the launch and let the product be released. If you are correct, it will soon be apparent to all that requirements were mistakenly never implemented because of the faulty requirements management system.

提醒，本方法需十分小心的使用。作为PM，就算你本意是为了让同事们更透彻的看清问题，也不能忘了你是该产品最终成败的负责人。所以多数情况下，使用本方法时，最好选择小项目来作为案例。

This tactic needs to be used carefully. As product manager, you are still responsible for the product in the end, even if you are trying to teach your team a lesson or tell them “I told you so.” However, in many cases, it is possible to use smaller projects or specific aspects of the product as examples which can prove your point and make the case for change.

问题可能没有你想象中那么严重。每次问题出现的时候——产品暴露了Bug，用户发出抱怨，会议上的争论——看上去总是迫切得非解决不可。于是，PM不得不暂时暂停正在进行的真正关键工作——战略、计划、用户调研——而把精力用在四处“灭火”上。

Problems may not be as severe as you originally thought. Often, when an issue presents itself — defect in the product, complaint from a customer, argument in a meeting — there is a rush to resolve it immediately. A product manager will often break focus from the really important things — strategy, roadmap, getting out of the office to talk with customers — and instead spend energy on “fire fighting.”

然而，必须立即解决的Bug其实很少。同时，与PM应该着重思考的产品方向等问题比起来，这些Bug的重要性实在很低。每个Bug都有看上去万分关键的时刻，但过段时间后，它们似乎都变得无关紧要了。事实上，真正严重的Bug会迅速暴露出来。牢记这一点，会让PM把时间用在刀刃上，而不是每天都在处理危机。

However, issues are rarely so important that they must be resolved immediately, and seldom are they more important than the larger strategic activities on which a product manager should be spending his or her energy. In the heat of the moment, every problem appears to be major, though with time, the importance of most usually diminish. The truly severe problems will become apparent quickly, and this will allow you to focus more attention on the major issues rather than the crisis of the day.

花更多的时间可以找到更完美的解决方案。若在全面了解Bug之前，就急着去为Bug寻找答案，我们通常会选择脑海中冒出来的第一个解决方案。这可能也算是一个过得去的方案，不过若我们花更多时间来分析此Bug，找到其根本诱因，甚至来一场头脑风暴，或许我们能发现更完美的解决方案。当然了，花更多时间也不一定就找得到更棒的方案，但至少，花了时间之后，得到的不会是更少的备选方案或更差的解决方案。

More time gives you more opportunity to find the right solution. In a rush to find answers before we even understand the full extent of the problem, we often choose the first idea which comes to mind. While this may be an acceptable solution, with more time to understand the issue, look for underlying problems, and brainstorm solutions, it is likely that a better solution can be determined. While more time does not guarantee more or better solutions, it is at least certain that you will not have fewer ideas or worse solutions if you provide more time to consider your options.

下一次遭遇Bug时，请别十万火急。PM需要有战略眼光（不是战术），请先分析Bug，找到根本诱因，并衡量全局重要性，再对Bug进行解决。若不是每一次都着急解决每一个Bug，PM可以花更少的时间四处“灭火”，从而拥有更多的时间去思考产品战略——如何给用户带去更多的价值。

The next time a problem comes along, resist the urge to take immediate action. Take a strategic — not tactical — approach to problem-solving by evaluating the issue and considering possible underlying causes along with the overall severity. By not responding immediately to every issue, you will spend less time putting out fires and more time on the true value-adding strategic aspects of product management.