To de-risk a new product, Winnebago built a 'mule'—a functional but unpolished prototype. A product manager camped at an enthusiast event, gathering unfiltered feedback by pretending it was a friend's build, thereby identifying critical design flaws before launch.
While being a user of your own product provides deep empathy, it can create bias. The Winnebago PM, a young mother, recognized her needs differed from the typical older customer. She actively balanced her intuition with direct observation of the target demographic's actual usage patterns.
Beyond gathering user feedback, a key purpose of a physical prototype is destructive testing. Winnebago's PM intentionally pushed their prototype to its limits on harsh terrain, causing failures that revealed critical weaknesses that could then be engineered out before full production.
The Winnebago team used this principle to make difficult scope decisions for a new vehicle. It forced them to focus on core functionality required for immediate use while intentionally omitting features that customers could, and often preferred to, add themselves via aftermarket modifications.
Moving from software to physical goods is a 'night and day' difference for a PM. Key challenges include long development cycles, the inability to push updates post-launch, and the need to translate designs for human builders on a manufacturing line, not just developers.
To manage conflicting opinions from numerous stakeholders, the Winnebago team used a clear set of customer use cases as their North Star. Any proposed change, whether for cost or manufacturing ease, was evaluated against its impact on fulfilling a core customer job-to-be-done.
When transitioning to a new industry, product leaders shouldn't pretend to know everything. Admitting a lack of knowledge, asking basic questions, and showing vulnerability builds trust with experienced team members and dramatically speeds up the learning process.