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what to do when your product management job turns into b*llsh!t management? I loved David Pereira's provocative presentation yesterday, based on his book "Untrapping Product Teams" and organised by KoThinker. David described the 4 traps that product teams fall into, leading them to fill their days with b*llsh!t tasks and how to avoid them. 🛑 Trap #1 : Acting as Waiters Product managers focus on internal wants and requirements from their stakeholders. They deliver features as requested, much like waiters taking orders from customers. 🟢 What to do instead Go from decision follower to decision maker. Product decisions should be based on a deep understanding of the user needs and of the market. 🛑 Trap #2 : Striving for Consensus With too many stakeholders and discussions, product decisions often lean towards the least disruptive solution, which can be the worst option and have minimal impact. 🟢 What to do instead Move from features to outcomes, from opinions to evidence. Product decisions should be grounded in a product strategy and aim for clear outcomes. 🛑 Trap #3 : Fear of saying no When product managers say 'No' to a request, they are afraid to be labelled as a "business blocker". So they say yes to every new request, shift priorities whenever something new arises, and hope for the best. 🟢 What to do instead Master the art of pushing back. Nothing gets on the roadmap unless it's aligned with the product strategy and has a clear impact on the business or user. 🛑 Trap #4: Spending too much time explaining failures instead of sharing what you learn from them When a product feature fails, everyone rushes to explain why and find solutions to prevent it from happening again. This results in a hyper focus on the failure itself instead of understanding the insights 🟢 What to do instead Avoid major failures that can ruin the product, but don't fear small mistakes. Trying to prevent failures at all costs kills innovation. Failure is a sign of experimentation and iteration, which are essential for innovation. What's the biggest trap you've seen in #productmanagement ? How did you act on it and what was the outcome? ---- 🔔 Enjoyed this post? Follow me for more! 💬 Comment to continue the discussion ♻️ Feel free to share with your network