I really like how this chapter outlines the PM responsibilities as more soft-skills oriented (e.g., working with people who may not be incentivized to work with you, dealing with ambiguity, etc.) rather than product-oriented. I believe a Product Manager is the messenger/communicator between the engineering side and the design side of a product to ensure that both ends are aligned with each other and with the end goal of the product.
I’ve worked as a PM intern one summer, and I didn’t expect to be thrown into a role where no one really told me what to do. At the time, I didn’t know that this ambiguity WAS the role. In addition to having strong product sense and strong soft skills, I believe a PM needs to be bold enough to take the initiative and think outside the box: this means, reaching out to supporting teams when your team is stuck, shifting product direction when you think it’s necessary, etc.
Questions:
How do you advise new PMs to navigate their ambiguous role, since no one tells a PM what to do all the time?
In your experience as a PM, did you ever struggle through times in your work day where you didn’t know what to do / didn’t know what your next task should be? How did you navigate that and stay productive?
Chapter 1 says that a PM’s work might not be directly measurable and that their value is manifested in the work of their team. Still, I think there will still be times where a PM struggles to find their value contribution to the team. How do you advise navigating those situations?
