[throwaway4233]

I have worked with 3 types of PMs during my time as an engineer as well as a lead.

1. The one who tries to reinvent the product and you tend to end up questioning their design or product decisions because they seem flaky and makes no sense. Being a newly promoted lead with my own ideas I was often at loggerheads with them. For anyone who reads this and is in the same position, I would suggest to continue building what the PM asks you to do. Any opposition or pushback you create regarding their choices will just lead to chaos for your team and in the end you would have to go with it since their role is the one making such decisions.

2. The one whose requirement are empty shells waiting to be filled with the questions raising by the people they present it to. I would suggest to get away as far as possible since your requirements will never remain fixed as the PM will be open to suggestions and influences from all over the company and you would end up with a rube goldberg machine.

3. PMs who take time to do research, write down solid requirements, convince stakeholders and also have a iteration based release plan in mind. I worked with only 2-3 PMs like this and based on what I saw, they tend to burn out faster than you do and either quit or regress to type 1 or type 2 just to get the release out.

Having said all this, I would rather be happier working with solid requirements rather than making them. I have played the role of a PM temporarily and found that it is generally a thankless job, regardless of the effort you put in.