Product Success Is Not about the Zeitgeist

Whenever we say a product succeeded because of its excellent timing, we might be right, but we might not be explaining anything. The risk of the-timing-was-perfect explanations is heightened for books, music, and movies, for which we don’t have randomized controlled trials, and for which it’s easy to say success was because of a an economic downturn, or an economic upturn, or a civil rights protest, or a terrorist attack. It’s easy - but is it correct? Probably not.

"Product Success Is Not about the Zeitgeist" is from hbr.org, published on June 22, 2016.