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Is an aspiring PM who struggles with decision making absolutely doomed as they consider pursuing PM?

Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of ProductFebruary 9

It's hard for me to think anyone is 'doomed' per se but I would make this a focus area if you are truly trying to get into product management. Making smart decisions quickly is a strong product management trait and so to be successful, you will need to be comforatble doing that. I would probably reverse the lens and ask yourself if you would be happy making smart decisions quickly everyday. Does that excite you? If so, then dive into why you can't or don't want to currently. If it is not exciting, consider what you like about product management and see if you can get that same joy in another role.

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Jacqueline Porter
Jacqueline Porter
GitLab Director of Product ManagementOctober 3

Product managers are important for a number of reasons:

  1. Prioritization to ensure business deliverables are done in the highest value order possible

  2. A single point of reference for the business to make trade-offs

  3. Consistency of customer voice in the product portfolio

Decision making is not always the task at hand. Sometimes the Product Manager needs to assemble the right people, SMEs, customer context, market information, and present that to the business leaders for a decision. Then the product manager can take action accordingly.

Short answer, no - PMs who have a hard making decisions aren't doomed! Although, it is a good idea to find ways to get out of indecision loops and find opportunities to resolve things quickly.

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