Focusing too much on the possible makes it improbable that you’ll solve the impossible.
As a product manager, it’s easy to automatically scale back the discussion to what’s possible. After all, you’re the one responsible for the timeline, the cost and ultimately the success of the outcome. So, it’s safer to push something good out now than to push something amazing out in three months. “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”, they say.
However, you should come into the strategy session with the craziest idea to make your product better, and then let your team talk you out of it.
To experience real product growth, spit-ball those crazy discussions with your team. Don’t accept that “it works this way and it’s too hard to change” (especially when you’re the one saying it!). Talk about why it’s that way, how to work around it, ways to make it better, and what you would do with infinite time and resources.
Your team will only think as big as you do, so push yourself to think bigger. If you come in with constraints and excuses, you’re handicapping some talented, expensive creative talent. The alternative is shipping small iterations (“quick wins!”) in the short-term, and that’s neither fun nor effective.