Q: I just became a product manager. What would you say are the most common pitfalls of new PMs?
Being a new product manager is a lot like being a new President. You’re thrust into power, entrusted to lead people (many of whom you’ve barely met) to achieve ambitious goals, with limited authority, all the while learning how to do this job, on the job. Also, you’re immediately jumping from crisis to crisis, with little appreciation, and half the people have no reason to trust you. It’s a surprise anyone ever wants this gig 🥴
The good news is that, unlike the presidency, there are only a handful of pitfalls that trip new PMs up. Also no big red button. Avoid these pitfalls and you’ll have a great shot at ~~re-election~~ keeping your job:
Pitfall #1: The Coordinator
You are a product manager. Not a project manager. You weren’t hired to just coordinate other people’s work. You were hired to bring your own point of view. To help shape the product. To deliver optimal business impact. You do all this not by simply executing other people’s ideas but by actively pushing your team in the right direction and making sure the right product decisions are made.
Signs you are pitfalling:
- You rarely have strong opinions about product decisions
- You worry about expressing your point of view
- You often optimize for team happiness over impact
- You don’t maintain a high bar for the work your team takes on
How to avoid this pitfall: Strive to always have a point of view. You don’t need to always share it with others or get your way, but by forcing yourself to always come with a perspective, you’ll start to develop a POV and the confidence to share it. Where do you think this button should go? What feature do you think should be prioritized next? What’s your proposal for next quarter’s strategy? Don’t just coordinate—lead.
Pitfall #2: The Dictator
At the other end of the spectrum is a PM who fully embraces the supposed “mini-CEO” role. This person may have recently transitioned from an engineering or ops role, or is fresh out of an MBA program, and has been waiting for their chance to finally run the show. They think they need to have all of the ideas, micro-manage every decision, and that their teammates are there to execute their plans. Unless you work at Zynga, this won’t work out for you. Your teammates didn’t sign up to report to you. They are your peers, and they expect for their ideas to be heard and their input to be taken into account. The good news is that this will actually lead to better outcomes (and better teammates). The bad news is that you need to learn to lead through influence.
Signs you are pitfalling:
- Your specs are incredibly detailed—there’s no room for discussion
- You present fully baked roadmaps, strategies, and visions, without genuine interest in feedback
- You get frustrated when anyone disagrees with your conclusions
- You rarely let someone get their way if they disagree with you
How to avoid this pitfall: Let go. Leave more space for feedback, input, and discussion. Think of yourself more as a team captain than as the CEO. Lead not through force but through trust, collaboration, and influence. Absolutely push the team in the direction you believe they should go, and optimize for impact and good decisions, but see what happens when you give your teammates a little more space to contribute.
Pitfall #3: The Dreamer
Your first responsibility as a PM (especially as a new PM) is to help your team execute, today. To ship, to hit dates, to make sure everyone knows what they should be working on. But many PMs come into the role expecting to spend most of their time developing strategy, visioning, and thinking big. That’s fun, but that’s not the role you signed up for. You need to earn this right. Yes, strategy and vision are essential, but not at the expense of the immediate needs of your team.
Signs you are pitfalling:
- There’s frequent misalignment within your team, and among stakeholders
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Team members often don’t know what they should work on next
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Project specs are vague and block team members from designing/building
- You spend more than 10% of your time on strategy or vision work
How to avoid this pitfall: Ask your teammates where they’d rather you spend time—helping them execute, or developing the strategy/vision. They’ll generally have a very quick answer for you. If it’s the former, then you’re spending too much time on the latter.
Pitfall #4: The Feature Factory
The flip side of the above is the PM who equates shipping with success. “Look at us, we’re shipping left and right and giving customers everything they want. We’re killin’ it!” Wrong. Shipping isn’t success. Success is shipping work that (1) has meaningful impact on the business, (2) has high ROI relative to other opportunities, and (3) moves you closer to achieving your strategy. Teams become factories when they lack a strategy. A good strategy tells you what you need to do in order to win but, more importantly, what you should not do. Without a strategy, you may be moving fast, but you’re not going anywhere.
Signs you are pitfalling:
- You translate every customer request into a feature
- You don’t have a written-out public product strategy
- Most people on your team don’t know what your strategy is
- You’re obsessed with deadlines
- Your KPIs are all about features shipped, not business metrics
How to avoid this pitfall: Articulate a strategy, get buy-in, and make sure all of your projects and priorities are in support of this strategy.
Pitfall #5: The Busted Umbrella
And finally, there’s a reason PMs are often called “shit umbrellas.” It’s their job to shield their teams from stupid shit. Like time-sucking questions, unnecessary drama, and the whims of execs. People outside your team have no idea how much impact their ad hoc asks and “quick” questions have on the team. It’s your job to help them see this, and to protect your team from them. Help your makers (e.g. engineers, designers, etc.) stay focused and in flow. Unfurl your shit umbrella.
Signs you are pitfalling:
- Your teammates are often pinged by other PMs, managers, and leaders
- You don’t spend time filtering requests of your team
- You don’t push back on asks of your team
- Your teammates don’t know why they need a PM
How to avoid this pitfall: There’s a delicate balance between protecting your team and keeping information from them. Encourage people outside your team to contact you with questions before going to your team directly. And encourage your teammates to direct questions to you. Help both sides see that you can help them get what they want if they work through you. And when you can handle something yourself vs. bothering your team, handle it. The more shit you handle, the more valuable you become to your team.
These are the five most common pitfalls I’ve seen, but there are others. However, instead of obsessing over all of the things you may be doing wrong, I’d encourage you to instead work on building great habits. If you come at it from both directions, avoiding pitfalls and building great habits, you’ll be on your way to 4 more years.
Have you experienced any other pitfalls as a new PM? I’ve love to hear it.
📚 Further study
- The Top 12 Product Management Mistakes by Marty Cagan
- Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager by Ben Horowitz
- Good Product Managers, Great Product Managers by Shreyas Doshi
Have a fulfilling and productive week 🙏
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🧠 Inspiration for the week ahead
- Read: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk … and Paul McCartney by Tyler Cowen
- Watch: 14 Peaks
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Sincerely,
Lenny 👋