Flying In The Dark: A Product Management Metaphor

A pilot friend once told me about the most intense training he ever did: flying in complete darkness with no external references — no lights, no horizon, zero visibility.

Pilots learn they can survive, and keep the plane in the air, using only three instruments.

Airspeed Indicator

From inside the cockpit your body cannot feel true speed through the air. Without this gauge you risk stalling or overspeeding without any warning.

Altimeter

In total darkness the ground is invisible. This single number tells you exactly how much space remains between you and the Earth.

Attitude Indicator

The classic blue-over-brown ball. It shows whether the wings are level and if the nose is pitched up or down. You can be completely upside down, diving toward the ground, while your inner ear insists you are flying straight and level.

Of course the cockpit is packed with gauges, lights, and alarms. Those are diagnostic tools. They become critical only when something has already gone wrong. An alarm sounds, a light flashes, or the plane stops responding as expected.

But with the three primary instruments, a skilled pilot can keep the aircraft upright, at safe speed, and away from the ground.

The Same Is True in Product Management

I’ve shared this story with hundreds of students in my Product Owner courses. They immediately see the parallel: a first aider checks Airway, Breathing, and Circulation (ABC), or an accountant watches Accounts Payable, Receivable, and the Balance Sheet. Experienced product professionals ruthlessly focus on a small set of key metrics.

Product management is flying in the dark. We operate in volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Success comes from obsessively watching the few metrics that tell you whether you’re moving toward your goals and staying oriented in the right direction.

Churn rate, revenue trajectory, core engagement metrics, win rate in target segments — whichever is right for you, your key metrics become your primary flight instruments. Everything else in your analytics dashboard is diagnostic data you pull up only when an alarm goes off.

What are the three indicators guiding your product right now?