Diving into “Product Management in Practice” by Matt LeMay, the first chapter painted a clear picture of a Product Manager’s (PM) role, which resonated with my view of them as the project’s glue. According to LeMay, a PM’s day isn’t about building but more about supporting, facilitating, and chatting up a storm across teams. They’re the ones making sense of the chatter, organizing meetings, and negotiating what the product’s journey should look like with the big guns in the exec room.
It got me thinking – how does a PM stay on course when everyone has an opinion on what’s urgent? Balancing the roadmap while tackling the day-to-day urgencies, especially when they come from the higher-ups, must be very difficult; how do PMs keep the balance without losing sight of the long-term goals? This is particularly challenging, and I believe getting this answered would lead me to becoming a better PM.
This chapter was a cool peek into the real world of PMs, juggling between keeping everyone on the same page and steering the product in the right direction. Looking forward to meeting Lemay in today’s class!
