It seems like a PM role is stretched in multiple directions - business goals, engineering, customer satisfaction etc. How do you determine what's more important to focus on?

You’re absolutely right—product management often feels like being pulled in all directions. At any given moment, you’re balancing customer needs, technical realities, business metrics, and stakeholder expectations. And here’s the truth: you can’t make everyone happy. But you can keep everyone aligned around the outcome you’re driving. When I feel that tension (and I’ve felt it at startups, at Walmart, and now at Barracuda), I come back to one central question: “What is the most important problem ...Read More

This is the secret sauce you have to learn in your product career. I've never seen, nor been in, a product role that isn't stretched in multiple directions. You'll always have too many things to do and not enough time. As you get more senior, it gets harder, not easier, because there are more demands on you. :) For me, I break it down in a few ways: For urgent needs, what are the 2-3 ways to move the ball forward in a meaningful way in less than 1-2 weeks? I hate boiling the ocean, because you'r ...Read More

I try to focus a product team on the most pressing areas that only PM can do. Our job is to create unique leverage for the company, not try to do everyone's job. So for example, while it might be tempting to play junior engineering manager, it's not a good use of time for PMs to project-manage every single engineering story and deliverable (IMO). If I or my team have to flex into a role temporarily to fix a problem, I will make it clear to all stakeholders that it is a temporary fix. An example ...Read More

As problem solvers, it is easy for PMs to fall into the trap of taking on every request and getting stretched thin. However, this is not sustainable nor efficient in getting things done. To assess the value of a task, PMs can ask themselves or stakeholders the following questions. Why is this important for the customer, product, or company? What is the expected outcome and timeline? How will it help teams achieve their goals? If a task is deemed worth pursuing, it's important to align with stake ...Read More

A PM's job is to take in a lot of inputs (including the 3 listed in this question) and articulate a compelling strategy and roadmap around achieving the best outcomes for your business. Within those are assumptions, risks, opportunities, etc. that are worth digging into and questioning, and from there you can usually start to get a sense of where to focus. To a certain extent, you'll need to at least focus a little on all of these inputs, just to get a sense of whether they're worth digging deep ...Read More

Product managers juggle multiple priorities and have to work with stakeholders whose needs vary. The most successful product managers understand customer's needs and market dynamics and use data to make informed decisions while keeping all stakeholders aligned and informed. They are adaptable and prioritize based on the current context while keeping the long-term vision in mind. Here are a few guidelines that can help you determine what's most important: Understanding Big Picture: What are the c ...Read More

This is very true and part of the fun and complexity of the role. You have to wear a lot of hats. As a former founder, I love this. I also think of balancing these different directions similarly to how I approached it with my own company. You have to put your time and attention behind the areas that are the biggest fires, biggest gaps, or biggest opportunities and ignore everything else. It's hard, because there's always a million things to do, but if you try to do everything, you end up doing n ...Read More