Making Decisions: In Defense of the Product Management Function

The role of the Product Manager has been under attack for several months. It's worth highlighting an area where the PM is critical: making a hard decision when no one else wants to.

The best Product Managers in the world make hard decisions, thoughtfully and with conviction.

When I started my Product career in 2014, I thought that Product was responsible for solutions. I thought that defining solutions was where we added value. Engineers were patient with me but must have also hated my style: “Here’s what we’re building. Go!”

Yikes.

Then, a couple of years later, an Agile coach came in and told us that Product Management wasn’t responsible for defining solutions at all. We were responsible for identifying the right problems. By employing this new philosophy, I was despised a little less but my style was still grating: “Here’s a huge generic problem, how do we solve it? Come back to me with your solution!”

My style now is far more collaborative and often results in making the final call on a difficult decision. Framing problems isn’t enough. The team wants me to not rely on Engineering for a solution but to choose from a short list of options. Marketing wants me to bless the right positioning. Leadership wants me to make the right decisions around what got pushed from the near-term roadmap. Prioritizing problems is important, but that role - on it’s own - won’t justify a six figure salary. Decisions are hard. Putting your neck on the line is terrifying, for most people.

I realize now that Product Managers add the most value when they lead decision-making. Decisions around the problem we solve first. Decisions around tradeoffs between candidate solutions. Decisions around methodology. Decisions around whether a product is good enough to launch. Decisions around pricing. Decisions around partnerships.

Decisiveness. It’s a skill I hadn’t previously thought about when hiring Product Managers. But I’m going to start. If I sort out the best Product people from the worst, there’s a distinct correlation between those who could make a call and those that were afraid to. Intelligence, hard work, experience … none of these traits have the same correlation to Product success as decisiveness. Intelligence and hard work and diligence will lead to the right decision. However, the right decision is worth nothing if someone is too timid to make a decision to begin with.

So, be brave. Make a decision and be clear as to why you’re making it. It’s what Product Management does. It’s a big reason why Product Management exists.