Thoughts

Good product management means thriving in ambiguity, making tough trade-offs, and aligning diverse teams—all while staying focused on the needs of the user and the goals of the business. It’s no wonder so many PMs say the role is one of the most rewarding—and one of the hardest—in tech.

Product leadership is a constant balancing act. One moment, you’re firing away at moving targets, reacting to opportunities as they pop up. The next, you’re pausing to chart a long-term course, climbing steadily toward an ambitious goal. It’s a bit like being in two completely different games: the fast-paced duck shooting carnival and the deliberate, strategic climb of a mountain.

What is product management? It’s a question that sparks endless debates, countless diagrams, and more than a few metaphors. Is it the intersection of design, engineering, and business? Or is it the glamorous-yet-vague role of being the “CEO of the product”? Neither of these definitions has ever quite hit the mark for me.