When AI researchers started obsessing over “taste” last year, I had to laugh. They’d discovered what product people have known forever: the ability to quickly distinguish good from bad, elegant from clunky, valuable from worthless. They just gave it a fancier name.
Taste isn’t some mystical gift. It’s compressed experience. It’s pattern recognition built from thousands of micro-decisions, accumulated over time until good judgment feels effortless.
Product sense, taste, intuition — they’re all the same thing. And if you want to build products that don’t suck, you need to develop yours. Fast.
Intuition is Compressed Experience
In “Working Knowledge,” authors Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak define intuition as “compressed experience” — the ability to make rapid, accurate judgments based on patterns your brain has learned to recognize. A chess master doesn’t calculate every possible move; they see the board and know. A jazz musician doesn’t think through scales; they feel the next note.
Product sense works the same way. When a seasoned PM looks at a feature and immediately knows it’s wrong, they’re not being mystical. Their brain is processing hundreds of micro-signals: user flow friction, business model misalignment, technical complexity, competitive dynamics. Years of experience get compressed into a split-second gut reaction.
The problem? Most people try to build product sense by reading about it. That’s like trying to learn tennis by studying physics. You need reps.
Your Gut Needs an Education
The current product landscape is brutal. Users have zero patience. Competition is global. Distribution is winner-take-all. You can’t afford to learn product sense the slow way — by shipping features and watching them fail.
But you can accelerate your learning by studying successful products obsessively. Every app on your phone represents millions of dollars and thousands of hours of optimization. They’re living case studies in user psychology, business strategy, and design trade-offs.
The trick is to interact with them intentionally. Most people use apps passively — they open Spotify, play music, done. Product people need to use apps actively; not as a user but like a UX designer. They notice the three-tap onboarding flow. They see how the paywall appears after exactly the right amount of value demonstration. They understand why the search bar is positioned there, not there.
This kind of active observation builds pattern recognition. And pattern recognition builds intuition.
The Fast Track to Product Sense
I developed these exercises for my Stanford students, but they work for anyone trying to build product judgment quickly. Each week focuses on a different aspect of the product experience, from first impressions to growth mechanics. By analyzing how successful companies solve the same problems differently, you start to see the underlying logic.
I highly recommend you don’t just do the exercises in your head. Writing about what you see and experience will cement the insights into your brain and make your gut feelings smarter.
Week 1: First Impressions — Onboarding Flows
Compare onboarding for three different types of apps: social (Instagram), productivity (Notion), finance (Venmo). Notice how each balances information gathering versus immediate value delivery. What does each prioritize learning about users first? Calculate the business cost of each friction point — how many users drop off when Instagram asks for contacts versus when Venmo requires bank verification?
Week 2: Purchase Intent — E-commerce Checkout
Study checkout flows from Amazon (speed-optimized), Warby Parker (confidence-building), and Patagonia (values-aligned). Each optimizes for different business priorities: conversion rate, average order value, customer lifetime value. Notice how design choices directly impact revenue metrics.
Week 3: Discovery Patterns — Search and Browse
Compare how Netflix (recommendation-heavy), YouTube (search + algorithm), and Airbnb (filter-heavy browsing) help users find content. Each approach serves different business models. Netflix needs engagement time, YouTube needs ad inventory, Airbnb needs booking conversion.
Week 4: Subscription Decisions — Paywall and Upgrade Flows
Analyze freemium conversions across Spotify (premium conversion), Figma (team expansion), and NYTimes (subscriber value). How does each maximize lifetime value? What’s the calculated risk of friction versus free usage?
Week 5: Crisis Management — Error States and Recovery
Study error handling in Slack (workplace retention), Uber (ride completion), and banking apps (trust maintenance). What’s the business cost of each error type? How do recovery flows protect different revenue streams? (You’ll get useful practice in trying to break apps also.)
Week 6: Personalization Strategies — Customization vs. Automation
Compare how Spotify (listening time), LinkedIn (session frequency), and TikTok (ad targeting) use personalization to drive core business metrics. What’s the ROI of personalization investment for each model?
Week 7: Community Building — User-Generated Content Flows
Examine content creation flows in TikTok (creator economy), Twitter (engagement ads), and LinkedIn (professional networking). How does user-generated content support each platform’s monetization strategy?
Week 8: Accessibility Implementation — Inclusive Design Patterns
Study accessibility across Apple’s native apps, Be My Eyes, and mainstream apps. How does accessibility investment support business goals like market expansion, brand value, and legal compliance?
Week 9: Growth Mechanics — Viral and Referral Flows
Compare growth strategies in Dropbox (storage incentives), Cash App (money incentives), and Wordle (organic sharing). Calculate customer acquisition cost and viral coefficient for each approach.
From Analysis to Intuition
Here’s what happens when you do this work consistently: you start seeing patterns. You notice that great onboarding flows always demonstrate value before asking for effort. You recognize when personalization serves the business model versus user needs. You can predict which growth mechanics will feel natural versus forced.
After analyzing dozens of flows, your brain starts making these connections automatically. You develop an intuitive sense for what works and why. That’s when decision-making gets faster and more accurate.
The Advantage of Building “Taste”
This kind of product sense pays dividends everywhere. In startups, it helps you prioritize the right features and avoid common pitfalls. You’ll recognize when you’re solving the wrong problem or optimizing the wrong metric.
In interviews, it demonstrates depth of thinking. When someone asks about your favorite app, you won’t just say “Instagram.” You’ll explain how Instagram’s Stories feature solved the pressure of permanent posts while creating new engagement loops and ad inventory.
Most importantly, you’ll stop making decisions based on what seems pretty and start making them based on what actually works. Your gut will be educated.