One of the challenges with describing product management—when one’s understanding of it is nascent—is the position’s amorphism and ambiguity. LeMay attempts to describe to his readers the important distinctions between what product managers seem like they would do and what they actually do. The author disambiguates the position itself, probably crushes some readers’ dreams of being a PM and wielding lots of authority, and moves on to describe the many ways a product manager’s profile can look.
After this reading, I paradoxically feel that I have a much greater understanding of a PM’s jobs and responsibilities and also a lesser understanding. I now see PMs as a connective link holding together a nebulous human-product network, acting as a mediary for many concerned parties, and reporting to the top players [at a company]. They must act on a lot of ambiguity (a PM buzzword) with the interest of the company in mind; they cannot sit and wait for instructions to fall into their lap; and they hold a disproportionately large amount of responsibility compared to the authority they wield. This, in my opinion, is a lethal combo of traits. Low power, few directions, and a boatload of responsibility is an interesting cocktail for a sought-after job. I left the reading continuing to ask:
Say multiple stakeholders at a company are demanding multiple or contradictory deliverables. Is the PM granted leeway in terms of what to accomplish and what to strategically ignore? How direct is the chain of command, and how serious is mutiny?
