Anthropologize

A topic from . The book is currently available at cost.

“(Culture is) The lens through which a person sees the world.”
— Paula Gray, “Anthropology for Product Management,” AIPMM

People process the world through the cultures they inhabit. What seems normal to you might be strange for someone from another culture and vice versa. For example, Asian web portals may look dramatically different from Western ones; usage patterns for apps from messaging to social media vary across cultures; cultural norms in some countries disfavor calls using video; Japanese leave less information on their LinkedIn profiles than Americans. Cultures can be distinct even among people who live and work alongside each other, as with Boomers and GenXers, as well as men and women. Our relationship with products as a function of culture is the domain of anthropology.

Anthropology’s tools are already embedded in product management through contextual inquiry, structured or informal interviews, focus groups, journeys, affinity mapping, and storytelling. But culture is far grander, “a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitude, and habits of the individuals in these groups.” (Wikipedia) Product managers do not usually frame…