Recently, I've been questioning the conventional product management playbook.
Does it really work?
Many of the product managers I speak with are doing more internal management than product creation. A lot of their time is spent justifying their teams existence, rather than creating value for their customers. Every quarter, teams go through the motions—OKRs, roadmap prioritisation, stakeholder reporting—while the actual product gets lost in a sea of abstraction.
I’m not saying that process has no place. But when a high proportion of product management time is spent on internal processes, rather than on the product itself, you’re in a bad place.
The uncomfortable conclusion I'm coming to is a lot of the conventional ideas in product management don't work well in most contexts. Not because they are flawed in theory, but because they don't survive contact with the real world.
You don’t NEED a roadmap. Or OKRs. Or a matrix to justify what to build next.
You need to understand your customer, have good judgment—and the ability to ship.
Everything else is optional.