A transition into product work from a consultancy background can open up quite an odyssey of self-discovery. One experiences a shift, a kind of displacement from abstract strategizing into the daily grit of building actual things. The path presented here demonstrates such a move; a person comes face-to-face with practicalities of creating something real, in real time with real constraints.

This journey, as it unfolded, reveals how theoretical knowledge transforms when put into the fiery furnace of practice. In the world of consulting, grand schemes and plans reign supreme and an intellectual highground appears to be the goal. Product development, on the flip-side, forces one to grapple with the limitations of that same approach. One gets exposed to the complexities of building something with a team, where ideas confront reality of both technology and user needs. The narrative portrays a humbling encounter with the actual problems on the ground, making one recalibrate initial presumptions of how things should or could be. A world of pure intellect is quite different from a messy reality of making products. A turning point appears, exposing the limitations of the previous ways of thinking. A new set of skills appear as tools that become a constant companion. This learning is not from a book but from the trenches. One begins to navigate ambiguity, learning to trust one's hands, intuition and the experience gained through daily struggles. A clear understanding of how consulting skills can morph and blend into something more organic appears to take hold. One might come to view those previously learned processes not as end goals but as starting points. The final transformation is into a new approach, one where an agile mind now becomes more powerful because of lived experiences. A sense of agency takes over when one's input becomes something tangible. A whole different worldview appears.