Be More Than the Fruit Tool

At Kaiser Permanente, I used to host a weekly session called Bring Your Own Backlog - a casual, no-stakes space for PMs to talk through product decisions, team dynamics, and anything else weighing on them.

One week, a PM came in stressed. His team had recently launched a fruit-size baby tracker. You know, "your baby is now the size of a kiwi! a mango! a grapefruit!"

It was cute. It worked. But it wasn't being used much.

Leadership wasn't impressed, and now he was feeling pressure to build a notifications system just to boost engagement.

"I don't know," he said. "I think they just want me to increase fruit tool usage."

I paused. Then I asked him:

"What else are pregnant people dealing with?"

He blinked.

So I offered a few examples:

Morning sickness. Prenatal vitamins. Birth plans. Clothes that don't fit anymore. Managing work. Talking to their partner. Planning leave.

You know, actual new mom stuff.

I asked him:

"If you weren't tied to the fruit tool, what would you build instead?"

He sat quietly for a moment.

Then he said, "Yeah. That's a way better question."

The fruit tracker wasn't wrong

It just wasn't the only thing.

And "getting engagement up" isn't the same as solving a problem.

That day, I gave him permission to stop defending the thing he'd already built and start focusing on what would actually help people.

He left that meeting with clarity, a better story for his leadership team, and a re-centered product mission.

Later, he sent feedback to my manager:

Kate's particular brand of audacious questions and brutally cheerful dismissal of assumptions always makes me think and ponder anew.

I still say it to PMs (and to myself):

Be more than the fruit tool

Don't chase engagement. Chase what matters.

Want a product coach who can help you find what's next, even when your backlog's full of fruit? Let's talk. For the full coaching philosophy, read what I learned coaching 150 product managers.