Prabhu Balasubramanian’s Post

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Product Leader

How much do you know about the origins of the products & experiences you use every day? I don't mean your iPhone, or Netflix, or LinkedIn. I mean the products that have become so embedded in your life that you hardly even think of them as products that need to be designed, built, and sold. I'm talking about things like the fridge you grabbed your breakfast from. Or the fork you used to eat it. Or the dishwasher you put the fork in when you were done. For a few months I've been loving the podcast, The Curious History of Your Home, hosted by domestic historian Ruth Goodman. Every week, she releases a new episode focused on the history of some product or experience that has become commonplace in the home, but which people have long since taken for granted. As someone who's spent years helping build technology for the home, I've found it fascinating to take a step back and reflect on what it takes to achieve real, lasting impact. Here are a few things I've been reminded of as I listened: 1) The arc of invention is measured in millennia, not months. A classic example is artificial lighting. Many of us learned at a young age to associate this strongly with the invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison (itself a highly oversimplified narrative). But as Goodman reminds us, the full history of lighting in the home goes back to the discovery of fire. And even solutions we think of as vaguely historical -- like the kerosene lamp -- had to be invented by someone (or multiple someones) and took many years to perfect. 2) Cultural controversy can follow even the most seemingly benign inventions, let alone the truly disruptive ones. Look no further than the humble fork, which anchored an episode in April. Today, the fork is the third most commonly used dining utensil (behind spoons and chopsticks); but early in its history, it triggered something of a culture war. Even coffee was a hotly disputed commodity in its early centuries, in part because early coffee shops (frequented by the intelligentsia) were seen to be hotbeds of political and social unrest. 3) The human journey toward more healthful living is a circuitous one spanning countless generations, driven as much by confusion and misinformation as by scientific and technological progress. There is an entire episode on medicine cabinets, or more generally about informal medical practices in the home -- which were at once the foundation of modern pharmaceuticals, yet also often founded in falsehood. But the most fascinating fact I learned in this area was actually in the episode on hats: hatters once commonly used mercury nitrate to stiffen felt, having no idea about the serious health risks. So the expression "mad as a hatter" in fact comes from real, observed symptoms of prolonged mercury exposure 🤯 I'd recommend this show to anyone who enjoys a broader perspective on the role of technology in society, and what it takes to invent something that truly lasts. (Link in comments!)

Ashton Udall

Director of Product Management @Meta

3w

What a great podcast idea - thanks for sharing. At Home by Bill Bryson is also a great book on this topic. He goes through each room, talking about its origins and changes through the centuries, as well as the stories of the people that either frequented them or had some role in changing them. A fun way to tour through the history of the place we frequent most.

Pin Hsu

Associate Director, Global Demand Planning at Kimberly-Clark

3w

Sounds like a great listen. Definitely adding it as well. (And also recommend revolution by Mike Duncan, as a fun and fairly comprehensive take of history and the ever so familiar human behavior). https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/

Keval Desai

Investing in founders reimagining global habits with new tech infrastructure. 30+yrs. in Silicon Valley as Engineer -> Product Mgr. -> Entrepreneur -> VC.

3w

Prabhu = you are too smart for humanity! But thank you. This is brilliant.

Jon Kaplan

Product Manager at Wing, an Alphabet company

3w

Love this perspective! Makes me appreciate the hidden history in everyday things and great reminder to consider the long-term impact of what we build.

Thanks for sharing! Sounds fascinating and totally up my alley! Added to my library :)

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