[dahart]

> Prove you can prioritise

Of all the PMs I've worked with personally, this has been the single largest problem. A PM that has patience and knows how to pick and stick to the most important thing until it's done is worth their weight in gold. It takes balls, because priorities always seem to change from day to day, management applies pressure to the PMs to get more done than is realistic, and engineers are fickle and perfectionist and usually slower than they predict. I've seen a good PM walk this line, but people who can do it are rare. I'll take someone who really can do the job of prioritizing well over someone who knows a lot any day.

[6stringmerc]

Having worked in a couple, maybe even a few hundred RFP type B2B submissions as the Proposal Writer (aka RFP PM) the one thing that was out of my control and was most frequently the last thing completed was the actual price to put on the submission. So many stakeholders. So much drama. So many times of saying "I understand this needs to be the right price but if you miss the deadline then WE LOSE 100% of possible revenue. SEND IT TO ME NOW...please Sir/Madam..."

Comparatively speaking, the lower on the totem pole, the easier it is to get compliance. It's the higher-ups of the world who, in my opinion, tend to think of themselves as exempt from "getting with the program" until somebody pulls rank. I hate pulling rank but if the chain needs a yank, it's for the project and company, not me.

[zzalpha]

Speaking as a PM, you've basically highlighted the most important part: management.

The job of a PM isn't to translate fickle external whims into a constantly churning set of priorities. That isn't management. It's reaction. And it's worthless.

A real product manager manages those competing interests and influences, and translates that into a focused, steady set of priorities and an overall direction. And if priorities must change or direction must move, that PM must make those decisions carefully, and must exude a sense of focus and control when doing so.

[taranw85]

This is really true for all jobs, especially as you start managing things.

[LukaAl]

As a PM I almost totally agree with you. There's a caveat, though. I know what I want, and in general, I want everything well done and polished.

But the right question is not "What do I want?" but "What need to be done?". That means having different priorities than my wishes and understanding the work on some non-sexy features that will make the product stronger in the long run.

One thing I noticed, though, is that what needs to be done could change, in a startup environment pretty quickly, and having been on the other side, it is pretty difficult to understand. So you need to communicate clearly why priorities are shifting, and you need to be able to take the blame if they are shifting due to a mistake you have done.

Anyway, my suggestion to any wannabe PM: Thinks of what is important for the product, not what you (or the stakeholders) want in the product. Second, be clear in your communication.