A Product Manager is supposed to be the great connector—the person who brings engineering, design, and business together. PMs are expected to be curious, collaborative, and customer-obsessed. They align stakeholders, navigate ambiguity, and create clarity from chaos. They're not the boss, but they lead. Not the expert, but the glue.
I recently ran a values exercise with a team of engineers in 1-1s. Each had to select three sticky-notes from a predefined set of values. Every single one of them chose Cooperation.
When we asked what cooperation meant, I got five completely different answers:
Even a small change in strategy can be profoundly disruptive. That's because strategy isn't just downstream of purpose—it is purpose, in motion.
A Product Manager is supposed to be the great connector—the person who brings engineering, design, and business together. PMs are expected to be curious, collaborative, and customer-obsessed. They align stakeholders, navigate ambiguity, and create clarity from chaos. They're not the boss, but they lead. Not the expert, but the glue.