Product Manager’s mistake #1: Think you own the product(s)

When a product manager becomes a dictator…

There is sooooo much content and advice on the internet that easily can mislead you as a product manager!

One of the misleading perception it that product managers should own their products like it is only theirs and not something in most cases a lot of people has contributed to develop, market, shape, scale, refine and so on.

I have meet a lot of product managers that are in the start of their PM journey and think that they by themselves can control the entire product life cycle and demand that other people just adapt to whatever they have chosen to be in focus at that particular time.

Why is this a mistake?

A product manager is depended on his stakeholders as a good product designer is depended on his users. A good product manager is fully aware that great products are build on the foundation from a team, where each team member is fully conscious about the team’s purpose and what each team member is contributing with!

What can you do to avoid this mistake?

• Accept the fact that you are not building the product(s) alone and that product(s) become better when you build them together with other relevant departments.
• Be humble and understand stakeholders pain and that should lead you into figuring out how to help them solve their pain and at the same time you will earn their trust and make the collaboration with them strong immediately.
• Share the ownership by motivating all members that has been part of building the products and deliver praise to them, so they feel acknowledged. You can not build products without the people that actually builds them. This way you can earn their trust and get them to build amazing products together with you.

Please share your thoughts and own experiences below 👇 This piece is the first of many product bits coming from a senior product manager in the near future. 🤟