Product Management Lessons from the 360 Innovation Hackday: Rough Heart, Brain Exercises, and the Power of Focus

The 360 Product Innovation Hackday held on August 18‑19 attracted 625 university students from 203 schools, receiving 115 product proposals, with 14 teams (57 "prospective product managers") advancing to the final hackday where Lao Zhou, representing 360’s product team, presented his insights.

Lao Zhou emphasized that aspiring product managers must develop a "rough heart," accepting that early products will often be criticized or even rejected, and that such feedback is a valuable sharpening tool for improvement.

He introduced the concept of "product‑manager brain exercises," encouraging continuous mental practice to evaluate products from both user and manager perspectives, and to adopt a "blank‑slate" or "white‑box" mindset that treats every interaction as an opportunity for product thinking.

Another core lesson was the importance of focus and doing less: product managers should identify a single, critical user need and avoid over‑loading the product with features, using real‑world examples like the evolution of Toutiao from a simple news reader to a multi‑function platform.

Overall, Lao Zhou’s advice stresses resilience, user empathy, disciplined scope management, and the habit of constantly questioning product decisions to create effective, market‑fit solutions.