### Favorite app
Framework and steps
1. Describe your reasoning on why any product is my favorite
	1. Gives tremendous value to me
	2. Brings innovating capabilities
	3. Inspires me to think strategically
2. Explain your favorite product. Give one line description
3. Explain reasons why it is your favorite product.
##### Google Maps
Description: At the surface, it's a navigation tool, but to me, it's really a personalized real-time decision platform. It helps me commute, discover new places and engage with nearest local businesses. It helps me discover, plan and act - all in one app. 
What I love the most is it 
- how it brings complex technologies to life - for example, AR-based walking directions remove one of the most frustrating pain points in unfamiliar areas: knowing which way to start walking. Similarly, real-time incident updates gives me quick rerouting to save time. 
- It brings new feature updates constantly and leverages crowdsourced data - for example, pinpoint building entrances, 
- From product strategy lens, I love the fact that it has added monetization layer with ads, promoted pins while maintaining core utility of a fast and reliable mapping app. 

Competitors across categories
- Apple Maps for navigation
- and Yelp and TripAdvisor for business discovery 
but none has nailed platform orchestration, depth of data and user-first design the way Google Maps has. It is inspiring because I love the elegance, scale and platform approach of the product. 

How to improve Google Maps? 
- Strategic priorities: 
	- Integrate AI and enhance intelligence, personalization - Gemini guidance, suggested locations
	- Immersive experiences - AR layers, 3D experiences
	- Trip planning improvements - arrival guidance, accessibility, route exploration
Put it as product sense problem - 
Goal is to improve engagement on platform
- Users - commuter with moderate usage of Maps app
- Journey / Pain points - 
	- Discover and plan trip 
		- Lack of planning guidance > P1
		- ETAs and multi-stop trips
	- Take the trip
		- Know where I can find available parking
		- May not know time saving possibility
	- Complete trip and share experience
		- Unable to recall past trips which could be used for future users
- Solutions - 
	- AI based trip assistant - use Gemini integrations and past location data to personalize possible location options for given time window
	- Visual trip planner - Add constraints around time to spend in one place
	- Trip Templates
- Metrics - NSM: 
##### Reddit 
Description: A topic-based discussion forum where users can consume content, ask questions, and engage - often anonymously with interest-driven communities.
I love it because 
- There's deep engagement in any topic's subreddit. Whether I'm reading about financial planning, product management hacks or international travel hacks, the community is knowledgeable and self-moderating. So it doesn't feel like social media, but more like a knowledge platform.
- Secondly, it has figured out a way to balance anonymity with accountability. There's upvotes, karma and subreddit rules to guide user behaviors and moderators can manage the groups independently, which has helped Reddit communities scale and be flexible instead of having a rigid design. 
Competitor options - direct competition
- Facebook groups
- Discord
- Quora
Indirect competition - for user attention and engagement
- Twitter, Threads
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube
- Wikipedia, Medium, Substack 

Despite these competitors, I have always found maximum value from Reddit consistently and I like their approach to UGC, platform health and community-based focus. 

##### WhatsApp
Description: Messaging app that is globally trusted and offers reliable, real-time and asynchronous communication through privacy-focused interface.
I love it because: 
- It succeeds at scale without being bloated, and it is intuitive for all user types from a farmer in India to professional in London. It started with extremely lightweight communication standard so it works on low bandwidth plus has low-friction onboarding, just based on a phone number and offer E2E encryption which has been a differentiator to build trust with users. 
- It has brought several innovative features carefully over time, for example, 
	- Voice notes to make messaging accessible to low-literacy users
	- Video calls were critical during Covid
	- Broadcast and group messaging helps connect with family groups and businesses
	- Status is also an interesting add cause it brought in social layer while sticking with the core use case of messaging.
- Lastly the business API and commerce use cases expansion opened up monetization avenues to help with business communication for SMBs. 
Competition: 
- iMessage, Google Chat and other messaging apps
- FaceTime, Google Meet, Teams and other video-calling apps

With principled design - minimalism, trust and global accessibility, WhatsApp has become a global platform with reaching high penetration, making it a default messaging app for countries like India, Brazil

### Physical product 
##### Electric trimmer
One of my favorite non-technical products is the electric trimmer. It’s a product that combines functional utility, ergonomic design, and a deep understanding of human behavior — especially around grooming and routine-building.

I appreciate how the best designs reduce friction: cordless models improve flexibility, noise levels are minimized for early morning use, and adjustable guard lengths help personalize the experience. A seemingly small feature — like a quick-cleaning mechanism or battery indicator — can completely change how much I enjoy using it.

The product has to balance power, safety, and precision. A failure mode I’ve experienced is blade dullness over time without warning, which suggests an opportunity to improve user prompts around maintenance.

It’s also a great example of a product that builds loyalty. I started with one use case (beard trimming), and over time added attachments and accessories — making it part of my weekly habits.