Perception Lag

Once I became aware of the concept of perception lag, I started noticing it everywhere.

I first encountered it in my role as a product manager. As a product team, we’re constantly developing new features and functionalities, but it takes time for sales enablement and marketing to get up to speed on these updates. Additionally, customers need time to learn about the new capabilities. The process typically involves first educating the internal team, and then communicating the changes to customers. I was recently on a customer call where the customer had a feature request for a feature that has existed for years but they were unaware of it. Here, there’s a perception gap between what our product can do and what the customer thinks it can do.

Before visiting Chicago, I had the perception that it was a dangerous city. However, after actually experiencing the city, I found that this was not the case at all. Chicago is a wonderful place, contrary to the negative reputation it had prior to my visit.

We often experience a perception lag for ourselves too. For instance, when I go back home, some of my hometown friends and family members still see me as my former self, rather than the person I am now.