John Cutler wrote an amazing post here which hit home, but after a fierce week at work, I wanted to put down my thoughts from the perspective of a PM.
I was almost apprehensive publishing this post. But I thought why not. I know it’s taboo talking against the engineers and designers in the software industry. On the other hand, making fun of product managers is a no brainer. Everyone does it and nobody cares (yes we might be the laughing stocks but weirdly still love our jobs — Save us!).
I’ve an amazing and talented engineering and design team at Klood. I personally love them as individuals (we bond so great over food and beers whenever we meet), but sometimes being a single remote product manager at a startup (with a very opinionated team and a company that lives and breathes collaboration) has definitely created a few intense moments in our product team.
This is a part-serious, part-fun post, not to be taken seriously. I’m not perfect and there might be hundreds of things I’m doing wrong but I’m trying to become a better Product Manager everyday.
- We know you are the actual machine of the company, and hence we need to keep you well-oiled. But sometimes try to think from my perspective too. Try to think from the business and marketing side. Try to put yourself in our customers’ shoes. I’ll be happy to involve you on those calls. But will you ever accept?
- I know what you think of me — I sit there and ‘prioritize’. I don’t do ‘real’ work. All my decisions are crazy according to you. But I also take the blame when something goes wrong. I take the blame, get embarrassed, learn, rectify and move on. Your fingers point at me if anyone raises a question and you go back to your cozy Linux screens.
- I know we clash all the time. You really believe my decisions and actions are completely opposite from you would do. But have you ever taken on the responsibilities of a PM even for a day? Would like to put on different hats on every single call, field requests from a variety of stakeholders, say NO to people while trying to keep the team momentum going?
- You feel my suggestions are useless. Completely different than yours. However, I also talk to real users outside the confines of our office (virtual space). I try to understand what they are struggling with everyday. I try to be the voice of the customer inside the team, because his voice gets lost between our egos. Who are you building the product for anyway? For yourselves or for the paying customer?
- You abhor meetings. And I understand that. You want to do your real value-generating jobs and don’t want interference. I can see your grumpy faces reluctant to respond to any questions I might have. Your sly eye-rolls while giving me details. But how is the company supposed to function without interaction and talking to one another? Especially in a remote team?!
- I try to make every sprint flexible. If I cram in too many points depending on the velocity, you crib about needing some breathing room. If I cram in too little, you panic after a few days and blame me that I haven’t planned and prioritized stuff neatly!
- You challenge my every decision. And that is fine. I get the opportunity to show you the quantitative and qualitative data which I’ve gathered. Or put forward my reasoning. I welcome your argument and reasoning too. But challenging every small decision? At each and every point? Kindly let the small things go. I’ll gladly accept when I’m wrong or make a blunder (I’m serious! I’ll accept it with a goofy grin!). But standing there 1 against all, defending my decisions and putting my case across every single time is tiring and frustrating!
- You want the opinion of the design team for small UI changes to the product. You can ask for my opinion too! I know what users are struggling with, try to use the app as any end customer would and have an eye for design and detail too!
- You want your opinion heard. Hence we have collaborative (and yes they ARE collaborative!) sessions and kickoff meetings for every painpoint we’re going to solve. I ask all of you to each put in your thoughts or create a rough sketch of the ideas you might have. But then you turn up empty handed in these meetings! You turn taciturn and complain on being made to ‘context-switch’. On having too many meetings! I just cannot win with you, can I now?!
- I sometimes try hard to win you over. Keep myself calm and let the small things go. But even then you never support me. Sometimes I need a ‘thumbs up’ on my slack message too!
Let me know in the comments below on how you interact with your engineering and design teams. Or if I could do anything differently, I would very much like to know that!
And if you could relate even a tiny amount, please recommend ♥️ and share below or just have a good laugh! 😄
