When we talk about product management, roadmaps, OKRs, user stories, stakeholder management, and metrics tend to hog the spotlight. But taste — the knack for sensing what’s beautiful, meaningful, or just right — is the thing that gives you an extra edge. It’s not about sipping oat milk lattes or obsessing over kerning (though those have their charm). It’s about wielding your intuition, sharpened by experience, to steer your team toward products that don’t just function but connect.

In this post, we’ll dig into why taste matters in product management, how it splits into two flavors — exploratory and conviction-driven — and how you can hone it to craft products that users love.

What Is Taste in Product Management?

Taste isn’t some ethereal vibe check for designers or boutique roasters. It’s your gut-level gauge for what’s worth building — both in the products you ship and the bets you take to get there. In product management, taste kicks in when you:

• Catch a feature’s awkwardness before the bug reports roll in.

• Nudge a UX tweak from “fine” to “fire.”

• Avoid a flashy idea that doesn’t jive with your vision, even if the numbers aren’t yelling yet.

It’s not whimsy — it’s instinct backed by reps. Taste is how you decide what makes a product delightful, sticky, or timeless. And it’s not a one-and-done deal; it evolves with every sprint review, user call, and backlog.

Two Flavors of Taste: Exploratory and Conviction

Taste in PM land comes in two shades, and you need both to nail it:

1. Exploratory Taste: Your antenna for the wild and unproven. It’s the voice whispering, “What if we tried this?” — no playbook required. It’s how you uncover game-changers.

2. Conviction Taste: Your bedrock. It’s the steady hand saying, “This is our lane, and we’re owning it,” keeping you locked on what’s true to your core.

Think of them as pedals on a tandem bike. Exploratory taste spins you into fresh territory; conviction taste grinds you up the hills you’ve staked out. Lean too hard on one, and you’re either chasing shadows or spinning your wheels.

Why Taste Outshines Data Alone

Data’s your trusty co-pilot — until it stalls. A/B tests show what happened, not why it clicked. NPS scores hint at happiness but don’t spill what’s missing. Taste bridges that chasm. It’s the human filter that reads between the lines and bets on the vibes numbers can’t catch.

Take Slack’s origin story. Launched in 2013 by Stewart Butterfield’s team, Slack wasn’t just a chat app — it was a mood. They chased a tool that felt fluid, cheeky, and human. Data fine-tuned the onboarding, no doubt. But taste-birthed quirks like the “Slackbot” banter (“You look nice today!”) and a threading system that didn’t suck. By 2019, Slack sold to Salesforce for $27.7 billion — not bad for a taste-driven bet.

Now, rewind to Google Wave, launched in 2009 and axed by 2012. It was a tech marvel — real-time editing! Email 2.0! — but drowned in its complexity. The team piled on features without a taste filter to ask, “Does this feel usable?” Users got lost, and Wave washed out.

Exploratory Taste: Finding the Next Big Thing

Exploratory taste is your prospector’s pickaxe. It digs up possibilities others overlook. In PM life, it’s your spark for brainstorming, prototyping, or sniffing out pain points no one’s cracked.

Example: Airbnb’s “Experiences”

Airbnb didn’t stop at beds. In 2016, Brian Chesky wondered, “What if we sold stories, not just stays?” They rolled out “Experiences” — think truffle-hunting in Tuscany or surf lessons in Bali. No one clamored for it. Competitors weren’t doing it. But their taste for what travelers craved — immersion, not just a roof — hit paydirt. By 2022, Experiences was a nine-figure revenue stream, per Airbnb’s IPO filings. (Exact figures are murky, but analysts peg it as a hefty chunk of growth.)

How? They didn’t chase trends — they tinkered. They tested sushi-making in Osaka and goat yoga in Austin, betting on what felt alive. Exploratory taste lets them roam free.

How to Flex It

• Live the struggle: Skip the questionnaire. Watch a user stumble through your flow. What bugs them that they won’t say?

• Swipe from X: Skim X posts about competitors. What’s hot? Remix it your way.

• Hack a prototype: Doodle a crazy idea in Miro/Figma. Show three users. Taste the vibes.

Conviction Taste: Doubling Down on What Matters

Conviction taste is your shield wall. It’s what stops you from bending to every exec whim or hype wave. It’s declaring, “This is us, full stop.”

Example: Basecamp’s “Less Is More”

Basecamp’s founders built a $100 million-plus business by saying no to bloat. In a SaaS world of feature sprawl, they stuck to a taste for clarity — minimal UI, core tools, zero chaos. Users begged for Slack-style chat or Trello-esque boards. Nope. Their conviction? “Work should feel sane.” That taste kept Basecamp lean, indie, and a cult favorite.

Compare that to Microsoft Teams, launched in 2017. It’s a beast — chat, files, calls, apps — but it often feels like a grab bag. It’s useful, not soulful. Basecamp’s taste carved a sharper edge.

How to Flex It

• Nail your “why”: Boil your mission to one line. “We make X feel Y.” Guard it.

• Amplify the no: Rehearse killing ideas that dilute your core. Taste loves a spine.

• Polish the gem: When a piece feels on, refine it. Depth beats haste.

The Trap of Outsourcing Taste

Here’s a PM pitfall: handing your taste to the crowd. The CEO wants a blockchain pivot. The market’s drooling over AI. Next thing you know, your meditation app’s got a crypto wallet because “it’s the future.” Ring a bell?

Outsourcing taste guts your product’s DNA. Look at Quibi — launched in April 2020, dead by October 2020, with $1.75 billion burned. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s crew chased a mobile Netflix dream, cramming in 10-minute shows because streaming was king. They didn’t stop to taste-test: “Does this feel ours?” It didn’t. Users yawned, and Quibi flopped.

A February 19, 2025, twitter/X scan shows PMs griping: “Boss wants AI avatars because OpenAI’s trending. Our users just want faster reports.” Taste would’ve dodged that detour.

Cultivating Taste as a PM

Taste isn’t a lottery win — it’s a skill you grind. Here’s how to beef it up:

1. Immerse Yourself

Live in your product. Use it like your users do. Feel the hiccups. Savor the wins. I once PM’d a cloud co-selling product. I sensed the “onboarding” flow was a slog. No data screamed it, but my taste did. We streamlined it. Engagement jumped 47%. Immersion tunes your radar.

2. Play Without Rules

Ditch the script now and then. Spotify’s Wrapped — launched in 2016 — didn’t come from a “growth 101” checklist. They messed with data until it felt joyful. Build a feature no one’s begging for. Taste blooms in the mess.

3. Obsess Over Details

Top PMs nitpick the good stuff. Apple’s taste shines in its haptic buzzes — each tap feels crafted, not slapped on. Next sprint, linger on a dropdown’s snap or a toast’s wit. Does it hum?

4. Learn from the Fringes

Peek at products off your turf. Why does Duolingo’s owl nag so well? What makes Notion’s blocks click? Steal the feel, not the spec. Your taste horizon stretches.

[Start] --> [Use Product] --> [Play Loose] --> [Sweat Details] --> [Borrow Vibes]

Taste in the Wild: A PM’s Day

Imagine you’re a PM at a fintech startup. Your plate’s full — KYC tweaks, payout logic, the grind. Then:

• Exploratory Taste: A user grumbles about “too many steps” to pay a friend. You whip up a one-tap send. It’s bold — no rival’s there yet. But it feels crisp. You pilot it. Users light up.

• Conviction Taste: Marketing pushes a “crypto rewards” gimmick because Bitcoin’s at $100K. Your taste says no — your app’s for daily grinders, not speculators. You hold the line. Focus stays tight.

Taste isn’t flashy. It’s the whisper cutting through the noise.

The Payoff: Products That Endure

Taste isn’t self-indulgence — it’s your superpower. Products with taste linger. Dropbox’s dead-simple sync (launched 2008, still kicking) or Superhuman’s zippy email (2016 debut, now a PM darling) — they didn’t win by mimicking. They won by feeling right. Data refines; taste defines.

So, don’t just chase KPIs or nod to the C-suite. Forge your taste. Breathe your product. Probe the edges. Stand firm when it counts. In a sea of copycats, taste is what makes users say, “This one’s mine.”