Product Management As a Sport…
I’ve been interested in product management since coming to Stanford, yet knew little about what the job actually entails. Product Management in Practice clarified not only what product management is, but what it isn’t. To wrap my head around the role’s complexities, I’ll compare it to cheerleading—because why not? I’ve been doing the sport for nearly all 21 years of my life.
The book compellingly describes the connective nature of product management: bridging user needs with business goals, technical viability with user experience, and vision with execution. Cheerleading operates similarly. We bridge fan needs with athletic department goals, the viability of complex performances with the fan experience, and creative vision with execution. Most importantly, Pradeep GanapathyRaj emphasized that the role is about “bringing out the best in people on your team.” That word—”team”— resonates deeply. Just as cheerleaders from diverse athletic backgrounds build each other up to create performances that bridge athletics and fans, product managers work collaboratively to bridge businesses and customers.
What struck me most is the emphasis on influence without authority. Product managers have tremendous responsibility but minimal authority; they must lead through connection rather than command. This mirrors cheerleading perfectly. No one person is “the boss.” Yet, we’re collectively responsible for energizing thousands of fans. Success requires reading your teammates, adapting in real-time, and motivating through shared commitment rather than hierarchy.
Moreover, the book explicitly rejects the “mini-CEO” notion, noting that product managers often don’t receive recognition for their contributions. This parallels cheerleading remarkably: audiences see a polished, seamless performance, but rarely recognize the countless hours of conditioning, choreography refinement, and trust-building that happen behind the scenes. We deliver a clean-cut outcome, but tremendous sweat goes into making it look effortless. Similarly, when a product succeeds, the developer wrote the code, the designer created the interface, the CEO provided the platform — but the PM’s facilitative work remains largely unrecognized.
Ultimately, both roles require fluency across multiple domains. Cheerleaders must understand the rhythm of football games vs. basketball games, coordinate with athletics administration, align with marketing campaigns, and respond to fan expectations, just as PMs must translate between engineers, designers, business operators, and users.
After reflecting on this analogy, I see product managers as multifaceted connectors. They are visionaries who are the sum of their experiences (as discussed in the book), who identify needs, communicate across boundaries, and advocate for products that solve problems. They don’t just have one skill; they synthesize many. Product management isn’t just a job — it’s a team sport. PM’s are the athletes connecting every play.
Understanding the Playbook: Questions for the Author
- If you could make one aspect of a PM’s invisible work visible to everyone in an organization, what would it be and why?
- How do you see AI tools altering the role of PM’s in the next 5 years?
- You mentioned that man PM’s including yourself, often fall into the archetypes of “bad PM’s” because of insecurity. Why is Product Management a role that ignites insecurity in people?
- I’d also love to ask the author: if you had to compare product management to something unconventional — the way I’ve compared it to cheerleading — what would your analogy be?
