AMA: Unity Senior Director of Product, Tarrah Alexis on Stakeholder Management

Here’s how my product team is structured and how it works: Team makeup: We’re about a dozen PMs. I manage the team alongside one other people manager; the rest are ICs with clearly defined focus areas. Some are more technical, others more business minded. I think having both is the key to a well-rounded team. We hype each other up: Every other week, each PM fills out a shared update: industry news, customer insights, release status, and data points worth sharing. Then we present and discuss, sha ...Read More

Here’s how I keep it real without killing momentum: Timeframes instead of timestamps: I anchor features to quarters, not dates. It gives just enough clarity without setting false precision, because nobody wants to re-announce a feature every time a sprint slips. Be formal with sales: We have a specific deliverable called "sales enablement" that lays out how sales and support should discuss a feature with customers. We have to be this formal about it because things get too confusing any other way ...Read More

Most disagreements aren’t about the decision; they’re about the framing. Here’s how I find alignment: Clarity kills confusion: A lot of conflict comes from ambiguous problem statements. If the goal, tradeoffs, or decision criteria aren’t clear, people fill in the blanks differently, and that’s where misalignment starts. Lead with a POV: I don’t open with an open-ended debate. I lay out the goal, my recommendation, and how we can move forward. It gives stakeholders something concrete to respond t ...Read More

When execs disagree and I’m caught in the crossfire, here’s how I find the path forward: Frame the options: I lay out 2–3 clear paths in a table including options across the top, key considerations down the side. The first column is my recommendation, with a crisp “why” up front. Identify the friction: I call out exactly where the disagreement lives and how critical those points really are. Often, it turns out the conflict is over low-priority details, not deal-breakers. Unblock with short-term ...Read More

I hate having to say "not now" to customers, so here's what I normally do: Lead with the “yes”: I start by highlighting what is coming, especially if there’s something that partially addresses their need. It helps shift the focus from what’s missing to what’s improving. Mitigate, don’t dismiss: If it’s a long-term investment area, I spend time walking through the roadmap, sharing how we’re thinking about the space, and offering workarounds where possible. The goal is to help them feel heard, eve ...Read More

Working with product marketing isn’t complicated, it just takes consistent partnership. Here’s what works for me: Treat them like teammates: I call my PMM partners my “adopted team.” We talk 2–3 times a week and stay in sync across launches, positioning, and planning. Co-build the message: We create a shared "messaging framework" for key features that defines what the product is, why it matters, and how to talk about it with customers. It anchors all downstream materials and gives marketing the ...Read More