Design Thinking and Deep Experience

When talking about innovation, design thinking as a framework comes up. Being a valuable tool in every product manager's arsenal.

One part of what makes design thinking so appealing is the rapid creation and valuation of ideas. As a job requirement for many product manager positions, it often conflicts with "extensive domain knowledge".

While I understand the inherent value of having worked in a field before. In PM more often then not we are looking to create new solutions and not copy & paste from the last company.

There is this mismatch between allowing a new application the time to ramp up. Reading about FinTech specific regulations, understanding the needs of PropTech or any other.

You should get over it as a company, no industry is so special that it takes years to be productive in it.

What often gets swept under the table is the fact that learning the domain specifics is, in the long run, a small aspect. And there is no substitute for understanding and learning about the customers. So what you do by asking for industry experience is limiting your pool and potential.

Someone who has worked for 10 years in FinTech is much less likely to come up with new viewpoints. While on paper those people make perfect sense, all thinks being equal, a person with various industries will outperform him.
There is this tendency to revert to what has worked before, a process that blocks re-thinking.

I would wonder about this to the extend that I would currently side with those claiming previous experience is actually harmful in many cases. Making it a potential warning flag when present in a job description.