Why ‘Falling in Love’ with Work Hinders Product Development, According to Melissa Perri

In a recent LinkedIn post, Melissa Perri discusses a common pitfall in product development: teams waiting too long to show their work to users, leading to an unhealthy attachment to their creations. Perri highlights how this delay can transform constructive feedback into perceived personal attacks.

Perri introduces the core issue by stating:

When teams wait too long to show their work to users, they start falling in love with it.

This emotional investment, as Perri explains, is directly proportional to the time a product or feature remains unseen by its intended audience. The longer a piece of work is kept internal, the more “emotional capital” is poured into it, making any external critique feel deeply personal.

The Danger of Unseen Work

Perri emphasizes that this phenomenon is not merely theoretical. She references Christina Wodtke’s experience at Zynga, as shared in a recent compilation episode on continuous discovery. Wodtke’s account illustrates a drastically different approach where user testing was a regular, almost mundane, part of the workflow, rather than a significant milestone.

According to Perri:

The pace was mind-blowing, and it became the default for her.

This rapid iteration and consistent user exposure, Perri suggests, is key to preventing teams from becoming overly possessive of their work. Wodtke’s subsequent experience teaching at Stanford mirrored this philosophy, where students became accustomed to critiquing early, “crappy” prototypes from their peers. This regular exposure to feedback, Perri notes, desensitizes individuals to criticism and fosters a healthier development environment.

Cultivating a Culture of Early Feedback

The ‘Embarrassment Fades Fast’ Effect

The core argument presented by Perri is that frequent, early feedback is the antidote to the “falling in love” syndrome. When teams are consistently showing their work to users, the stakes for any single iteration are significantly lowered. As Perri puts it:

When the team is testing every week, no piece of work ever gets precious enough to defend.

This creates an environment where iteration is embraced, and the focus remains on delivering value to the user rather than defending a particular design or feature. Perri also mentions that the discussion on this topic in the Product Thinking Podcast compilation features insights from Teresa Torres and Julia Austin, further underscoring the collaborative nature of exploring these product development challenges.

Perri concludes by posing a question to her audience, prompting reflection on their own team’s practices regarding user feedback and the potential for developing unhealthy attachments to work-in-progress. This engagement technique encourages readers to consider how their own team dynamics might be influenced by the timing and frequency of user testing.