Product managers like to think of themselves as rational decision-makers. They gather data, run experiments, talk to customers, and make evidence-based choices. But behavioural science has spent decades demonstrating that human rationality is a flattering illusion. Every person, no matter how analytical, is subject to cognitive biases that distort perception, memory, and judgment.
At PR_D_CT DAY 2023 in Ghent, Michiel Adams and Jonas Koops from In The Pocket delivered an engaging joint talk on how cognitive biases affect product management. Rather than presenting an academic lecture on psychology, they grounded every bias in real product situations: prioritisation meetings, user interviews, A/B test interpretations, and roadmap planning sessions.
The talk was structured as a guided self-examination. By the end, most people in the audience had recognised at least three biases they had fallen victim to in their own recent work.
Original Presentation Slides
Download the slides from this talk as presented at the gathering.
