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Marcel presenting his product management poster with the PM Process Navigator
Variant management

Real customer needs: the blind spot of variant management

Without understanding real customer needs, you build past the target or keep complexity lean and miss the customer. Why a good product navigator matters.

Automatically translated from German · Read the original

Julian Weyer
Julian Weyer April 8, 2025 · 2 min read
Variant management ·Variant management ·Product management ·2 min read

Marcel gets to the point: “real customer needs” — that’s what it’s all about, and it’s especially essential for variant management.

If you don’t understand real customer needs, one of two things happens. Either you develop past the target — over-engineering — and saddle yourself with unnecessary variant complexity. Or you keep your own complexity lean, but end up with a product the customer doesn’t want at all.

Both mistakes are costly. One costs you in the variant landscape, the other in the market.

That’s why a good “navigator” in product management is so important — someone like Marcel, who keeps an ear to the customer and translates their needs into the language of development. It’s exactly this translation that makes sure the customer is understood — while internal complexity stays under control.

Takeaway

Variant management doesn’t start with the bill of materials, but with understanding real customer needs. Without this translation between customer and development, you end up with either unnecessary complexity or a product that misses the need.