"What's It Like To Be a Product Manager?"

The Short Answer: It's Like Rolling Unwanted Rocks Up-Hill

Somebody on reddit made an interesting observation:

“I’ve noticed that people who work in product tend to be very articulate. Why is that?” - The Bipolar Ironman (u/thebipolarironman) - Reddit

The answer to this question, gets to the heart what it’s like to be a Product Manager in an unexpected way.

Being a Product Manager is like rolling unwanted rocks up-hill when people are demanding you to push other rocks up the hill that are far less valuable.

It’s your job to get them to be happy with receiving those unwanted rocks.

Influencing Without Authority Is Crucial

Succeeding as a Product Manager heavily leans on influencing without authority. Product Managers are articulate because it’s necessary to be good at influencing without authority. As a Product Manager you must influence people to do what you want without having any power over them.

And boy do people want strange things. It’s your job to bring them back down to earth again. If you struggle at communicating or influencing, you’re not going to make the cut as a Product Manager.

Yes, influencing without authority, is as much fun as it sounds. Please allow me to illustrate with real-world examples:

• The CEO wants something dumb and you must talk them out of it.

• Another PM does not want to help your team, because they are a dick and like to go on a power trip to pretend what they are doing is far more important than what you're doing.

• A developer is throwing a tantrum because we have to work on a new feature before fixing tech debt.

• The QA wants a bug to be fixed that isn't all that important, but from their limited perspective it is super important.

• Sales wants some idiotic feature because they believe it will help close deals (it won't) without considering the wider implications on the product.

• Marketing is spouting bullshit on a new feature you're about to release because they were too lazy to play around with it and asked ChatGPT to summarize the documentation.

• Security won't get off your back because they always believe security is more important than anything else (even making money).

• Customers keep nagging about a feature which can't fit with all the other bullshit requests that are on your plate.

All these magnificent encounters are part of the daily life of a PM and it's not even exhaustive.

In short, as a Product Manager you must be in control of this shit show of people from all walks of life with different, often limited perspectives who want something from you and they often want it NOW. They'll even fight you over it, if necessary.

You frequently can't give them what they want, yet you somehow must find a way to leave them happier off after not giving them what they want.

And if it weren't already impossibly difficult enough, they should keep liking you. Always.

Why Are Strong Relationships Vital to Succeed as a PM?

You're in it for the long game. You need to collaborate with all of them after saying no. You need all of them on board to do a good job and build great products. It's crucial they don't develop any resentment towards you, as basically when that happens it's game over. Your job a a PM will become impossible.

In short and in one word, being a PM is like performing magic tricks every day. I sometimes wonder why many products aren't far shittier, given all the shenanigans we sometimes must go through to deliver even the simplest features.

PMs have to deal with all the bullshit of all other departments. And still come out on top in all these encounters, at least if you want a successful product that isn't created based on departmental tunnel vision or the limited aperture of departmental expertise.

That’s why you’re constantly busy pushing unwanted rocks, because everyone looks from their limited perspective and wants a different rock pushed up the hill.

And even worse than all the bullshit we must deal with, if a PM, against all odds, does their job well, then the whole team receives praise. But if shit hits the fan and the team doesn't deliver, then people will flock to blame the PM.

That's why PMs are so articulate. Their survival and success depends on it.

I also want to stress, PMs aren’t smarter than everyone else. It’s not like they are idiots and we are not. All of the above happens with people in organizations with super talented and smart people.

It’s part of our job to get everyone to collaborate so we prevent local rationalization and many organizations suffer from Institutionalized Competing Interests.

After Reading This: Do You Still Want to Be a Product Manager?

So why be a PM, when it feels like constantly rolling unwanted rocks up-hill?

Because those rare and fleeting moments when everything clicks and you deliver a stellar product it feels fucking great.

The fact that it's so challenging, is also precisely what makes it so rewarding. You will never master it completely, it will always remain fascinating and you will be surprised every single day, both in a good and bad way.

And that’s why, despite everything. Despite all the shit I sometimes must deal with to pull even the simplest things over the finish line, like an addict, I still love product.

I wouldn’t change my job for the world.