Intro
Just reading the preface and first chapter of Product Management in Practice gave me a chance to rethink what I perceived a PM to be. I previously thought it to be a role that builds on and promises strategy, vision, and building products people love. But the readings make it clear that the reality is so much more ambiguous and interconnected, which makes it a truly human role.
The Job as I See It
I think there’s a misconception that a PM acts as a “mini-CEO.” The reading shows that PMs are more like connectors and translators, constantly balancing user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility. The preface addresses this well: despite studying Agile, MVPs, and frameworks, the author’s first day left him with nothing but the boss saying, “Figure it out.” While I was shocked at the lack of guidance, this does mirror what PMs are tasked to do: live in the messiness between process and people.
In Chapter One, the advice from Pradeep GanapathyRaj stood out to me: bring out the best in your team, work with people who aren’t incentivized to help you, and learn how to handle ambiguity. This advice has nothing to do with building products or features, but rather navigating relationships and uncertainty. PMs succeed not by coding or designing, but by being a north star for people and ideas.
Personal Thoughts
In my own experiences working on student startups, I’ve found this connecting role to be both very rewarding and incredibly frustrating. When I led a project to match local restaurants with nearby customers, I wasn’t writing the recommendation algorithm myself. Instead, I was organizing calls between different parties, clarifying what the term “local” meant for different neighborhoods, and smoothing tensions when deadlines weren’t met. Like the book describes, a lot of the work that happened was “on the margins and in the shadows.”
I also see the danger of slipping into archetypes like the “Overachiever” or the “Product Martyr.” It’s easy to measure value by hours logged or features shipped, but the real impact comes from enabling the team to thrive, a lesson I wish I had learned earlier.
Questions for the Author
- If a PM’s success tends to be invisible and expressed through the team, how should PMs measure/showcase their impact in a way that keeps them motivated and recognized?
- What strategies would you have for inexperienced PMs who have to “figure it out” when placed in ambiguous situations?
- With so many overlapping roles and responsibilities on a team, what’s the best way for PMs to create clarity without getting too mired by exact words or descriptions?
