Product purists aren't great PMs. A common trap I see junior PMs falling into is becoming a product purist. They’ve read a couple of the classic PM books Followed some product influencers on LinkedIn And understand that there is only One True Way to do product "But XXX said that PMs should always XXX ..." 🤦♂️ The frameworks, the processes, the terminology… none of it matters on its own. The only test is whether you are delivering impact. As a PM, your job is to 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲. When you’re too dogmatic about how you do product, You become less effective than you could be. MISTAKES OF PRODUCT PURISTS: 🚨 They hate being part of big strategic projects, because they’re not “empowered” to make decisions. They don't see they are part of a bigger team. 🚨 They insist on doing discovery from scratch, ignoring the insights that the business already has. 🚨 They look down on other teams for “not understanding product” instead of leveraging what commercial teams know about the customer. 🚨 They refuse to discuss delivery deadlines, making effective launches impossible. 🚨 They value product-only solutions, when truly collaborating with other functions (or even hacks / brute force approaches!) would lead to better outcomes for the business 🚨 They lament the failings of others, and fail to take ownership of what they can control: themselves. 🚨 They undervalue outputs so much that they are terrible at delivery. But you can’t have outcomes without output. I’ve been guilty of all of these mistakes at some point. This as a phase that most PMs go through and grow out of. It’s a sign of maturity, not a personality trait. And it’s one that can peak quite late. GPMs and Directors can be particular bad at this. They’ve done enough product to have firm views on how it should be done. But they haven’t had enough exposure to other functions (as you get on leadership teams) to work really collaboratively. GROWING BEYOND A PRODUCT PURIST: 𝟭. 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗴𝗼 • It’s not all about you. • See how you can support the whole with your expertise. • That might mean playing a smaller role or adapting your ways of working from what you’d ideally do. 𝟮. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 • Stakeholder tension is the canary in the coal mine. • Things never work out if you ignore it. • Take the time to work through conflict by 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 understanding what your stakeholders want. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 • You can’t change other people. • You can only change yourself. • You don’t blame customers if they don’t use your features. • Don’t blame stakeholders if they don’t like your plans. • You either haven’t understood their needs, or made a good enough argument. • That’s on you. ❤️ Like this post? ❤️ Check out Hustle Badger for more practical advice for product leaders and get the support you deserve. Wiki + Courses + Community + Events
The other end of the spectrum happens too: Junior Pms who are great at execution and as a result get promoted quickly. But lack any of the core skills and product sense to become a great product leader and then get stuck.
Really well put Ed. Designers and Engineers can also sometimes fall into this trap. Any tips on how to message / coach around this? - of course we all want people to be conscientious and do a great job, so it can be confusing to then also say "that's good enough for now" (also knowing when to do that vs when to really polish is another skill).
Very true. I've seen plenty of time wasted trying to do things "the right way" rather than building what matters. There is no right way because the variables across businesses, industries, and teams are infinite.
Agree with the post, my question is genuinely to seek answers and not entrap, looking for advice: Where do we stand when the two worlds meet and there are some things simply missing from the pragmatic approach described? For example, I interface with a project management function, its not got the best discovery as its simply a list of features from c suite without any real clarity as to why (deep breath, let it go, leaders are right most of time). All the focus is on hitting the delivery date, we hit it, we're on time, everyone is happy. I'm diligently measuring the performance of the product and there are some ways to improve it, engagement on the new feature is down - and no one cares, no one wanted to discuss what success was or how customers would interact with it, it was all about delivery. Now its onto the next thing and lets make sure that's on time as well.... I'm asking (as you can imagine) because its happened to me before and I feel the evangelist rising up and talking about outcomes, input metrics and working backwards. Do I stop myself and carry on or actually is there something I need to bring to the table here.
Couldn’t agree more!! In an imperfect world it requires pragmatic & considered ways through the work. Application of theory into the real world rarely works, same as academia / psychology etc. Play the hand you’re dealt, work within the constraints of your business / client group. Progress is key, not compliance to theoretical frameworks.
I was just thinking you’d probably like this post Calvin Gan, then I saw you already did. :)
I feel that I'm currently doing the last one. On my journey to evangelize outcomes, I'm starting riots and burning houses if someone talks about outputs. ahahhaha And sometimes, it's only semantics and nothing else. We all have done at least one of these things. And it's always good to remember these behaviors, so we can avoid them. Thanks for sharing
This is spot on. Too much focus on processes, too little focus on value creation for customers and the business.
Product coach: discovery, metrics and experimentation for trios and product teams || 1:1 coach for Lead & Senior Product Managers || Miss Impact Mapping || Keynote Speaker || Maker
2dAnd to add, I also see 2 and 4 a lot in teams that misunderstand "empowerment" and "being-outcome driven".