7 Weak Product Management Signs

I wrote the 7 signs to keep myself honest. Today, every one of them is a prompt away.

In 2021, I wrote about the 7 signs of weak product management. Recently, I decided to revise it. Why? Sometimes we get so deep into new solutions that we forget what they were for.

Let me take you back to my first role as a lead. I was a head of product, and I remember my continuous fight against the corporate firewall. I wanted the team empowered with problems worth solving, and I wanted them to figure out the solutions on their own. Overcoming that firewall was tremendously challenging. Sometimes I won, not always. But I kept moving forward regardless.

Here’s the part I never shared publicly, I wrote that list with the 7 poor product management signs for me. I knew I was sliding into some of those signs, and I wanted them clear in my mind so I’d catch myself and step back.

The world around the list changed completely. In 2021, we spent our energy debating Kanban vs Scrum vs Scrumban, and the more progressive among us would bring up Shape Up. Today, nobody cares about any of that. The question became “how much AI are you using?” I think it’s the wrong question, but it’s the one that gets you the shiny new job or the promotion.

Five years later, are the seven signs still relevant?

Funny enough, I think they’re more present today than in 2021, for one simple reason. You’re a prompt away…