Product Is About People
1. The Lie We Started Believing
“Product is a crowded space.”
“Jira handles tasks. Confluence handles docs. Notion, Linear… it’s all been solved.”
I’ve heard that so many times I stopped counting. And for a while, I almost believed it. But the more I looked, the more I saw the gap:
Yes, they solved tasks. Yes, they solved docs. But they forgot people.
Most product tools still operate in a vacuum. You track issues. You move tickets. You write specs. But where’s the customer? Where are the quotes? The real frustrations? The context? The impact?
We say we’re customer-obsessed — but when you open a spec, where is that obsession? When you open a Jira ticket, do you hear the voice behind the request? Or just the feature label and the priority tag?
That disconnect is real. And it runs deep.
2. The Invisible Center of Product
I started my career as a data scientist. But as a result of asking the “why” question a little too often, I ended up becoming a product manager. And I loved it. I loved being at the intersection of business, tech, and design. I loved helping teams make the right bets, and getting to the root of what users actually needed.
But I kept running into the same wall. I was customer-obsessed — in a non-bullshit way. I believed my job was to understand customers deeply — and to spread that context across the org. To make sure the engineer who builds the feature and the designer who shapes the flow had access to the same raw signal I did.
But the tools didn’t help me do that. Not even close. They helped me manage tasks. Move cards. Write docs. But they didn’t help me listen. They didn’t help me remember.
I found it wild — and honestly a little infuriating — that none of the tools we used had a proper Customer Object. The most important part of the process… missing.
3. Specs Don’t Build Products. People Do.
It’s easy to forget, but the best product context doesn’t come from a spec. It comes from your customers. From a sentence they repeated three times on a call. From a frustration they didn’t even have words for. From a truth bomb you only catch when you’re really paying attention.
Product teams today spend their days planning, prioritizing, and shipping – but without hearing the pain they’re trying to solve.
We open docs. We write PRDs. We debate feature trade-offs. But where’s the actual customer insight? Where’s the quote that sparked the idea? The churn risk behind the request? The ARR behind the frustration?
When that’s missing, something fundamental is lost.
4. Memory, Trust, and the Missing Layer
The best teams don’t just ship features. They build memory. They build trust. They make sure the voice of the customer is alive inside the workflow – not as an afterthought, not in a side panel, not buried in a tool no one checks.
And they don’t just collect feedback. They close the loop. With customers — who feel seen. With GTM teams — who feel heard. With engineers and PMs — who feel connected to real needs.
That’s what builds alignment. That’s what builds belief.
It’s subtle. But when you see it, it changes everything.
5. What We’re Building at Cycle
Six years ago, I started Cycle to solve this. To build what I wish I had when I was a PM. Not another doc tool. Not another ticket manager. But the missing layer: a way to bring customer truth into every product decision.
At Cycle, we built:
– A real Customer Object — tied to feedback, features, and strategy
– One-click access to the raw quotes behind requests
– Full visibility into who said what, for what reason, and with what impact
– Seamless sync with CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Attio
– Smart filters to segment quotes by ARR, plan, persona — and turn noise into signal
Imagine opening a Notion doc, a Jira issue, or a Linear ticket — and instantly seeing the quote that started it all. The video snippet. The frustration. The context.
Not buried. Alive. Right there, where the work happens. That’s what we do.
6. This Isn’t Just a Tool. It’s a Return.
This isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about returning to the obvious truth that got buried along the way:
Product is about people.
And people — customers — should be at the core of how we build.
We’re not adding another tool to your stack. We’re adding the layer that was missing all along. The one that lets you listen. The one that helps you remember. The one that makes product honest again.
Let’s Build with People in Mind
If you’re a PM, a designer, an engineer — and you’ve ever felt the gap between the work and the why: You’re not alone. Cycle was built for you.
To bring the real voices back into the room. To reconnect product with the people it’s for. To put customers — finally — at the center.
Let’s build with people in mind.
P.S. If this resonates – feel free to forward it to your team. Or better: try Cycle and see the difference for yourself.