Icarus and Product Management

The myth of Daedalus and Icarus is often held up as a warning against hubris. The real moral of the story is for product management and technology innovation, though.

Myth

Icarus was the son of Daedalus who had built the labyrinth on Crete in which the Minotaur was imprisoned by Minos. Theseus, who wished to prevent any further sacrifices of children to the voracious monster, slew the Minotaur and escaped from the labyrinth with the aid of a thread provided by Ariadne, Minos’ daughter. Minos suspected Daedalus of spilling the beans of the labyrinth to Ariadne and Theseus, upon which he detained both Daedalus and his son Icarus.

Daedalus made wings from birds’ feathers, leather straps, beeswax, and whatever they had available in their prison, so that both he and his son could escape. He warned the boy not to fly near the sea as the feathers would get wet or too close to the sun as the wax would melt. Icarus escaped but flew too close to the sun and plunged into the Mediterranean, where he drowned. Daedalus landed safely on the nearby island Icaria, where he mourned the death of his son and vowed to never fly again.

Interpretation

Hubris and its dire consequences are the accepted interpretation of the myth. What is more, the story is often told as a means to ensure compliance with superiors: Minos, the ruler of Crete, and Daedalus, Icarus’ father. Icarus’ hubris is what killed him and he should have listened to his father who should have never betrayed the king, though that betrayal was never proven conclusively.

Re-Interpretation

First, Icarus escaped. He succeeded. Sure, he died, but as a free man, not as a prisoner. He, like anyone else, had a choice and therefore must accept the consequences of that choice. He chose to fly near the sun, aware of the danger.

Second, Daedalus should have known that his son would soar high upon discovering the ability to fly. Any product manager knows that if a product can be used in a way for which it was never designed, it will be. Users will always figure out how to bend a product to their will. Safety margins are there for a reason.

Third, Icarus did not display hubris. Hubris is often translated as excessive pride, arrogance, complacency, or overconfidence. He was merely mesmerized by the ability to fly. And who would not be? OK, people with vertigo perhaps.

True innovations, which are not merely iterations on existing products but new categories in and of themselves, tend to have the same effect: people are enthralled, so they ignore any warning label and explore the extent of the new abilities they suddenly gained through technology.

Fourth, product liability waivers are never read, just like the T&Cs of apps or the medication package inserts. These documents are there to protect creators, such as Daedalus and companies, from lawsuits, not to protect consumers such as Icarus and the hoi polloi like you and me. These documents may occasionally prevent physical harm, but mostly they are a means to cover one’s corporate ass.

Fifth, nothing is more permanent than a temporary fix. Sure, the wings were only designed for escape, but workarounds outlive their original purpose. Almost always.

Sixth, Daedalus should have learned from his ‘mistake’. Instead of never flying again, he should have understood that using wax was a bad idea. In fact, he did know that and warned his son about it. Daedalus made do with what was available in their prison, so no one can blame him for not inventing temperature-resistant adhesives, too. But a teenager who disobeyed his own father… now that was not exactly an unexpected twist, was it?

Daedalus’ reaction is understandable because of his grief. Sadly, it also plays into the hands of the naysayers who always claim that nothing novel is ever possible until they are proven wrong with innovative technology, upon which they pretend to be unimpressed anyway. Daedalus might have become the first aviator, more than three thousand years before the Montgolfier brothers, Otto Lilienthal, or the Wright brothers. Alas, the myth told of hubris and compliance, not product innovation.