As a Product Manager, ditch these so-called 'best practices': - Tinkering with the backlog - Crafting JIRA cards - Steering stand-up meetings - Acting like the scrum master Here's what to embrace instead, from someone who's been through the trenches. 🧵
1/ Stop running the daily standup "But who'll run it if I don't?" Startup: Your tech lead/senior eng BigCo: Team lead/EM Why? Every minute you spend running process is a minute not spent on: - Finding highest-impact problems - Aligning stakeholders on vision - Uncovering
2/ Stop being the team's secretary Common trap: Becoming the human JIRA - Taking all the notes - Updating all the tickets - Chasing every status Startup: Let engineers own their tasks BigCo: That's what delivery managers are for Leaders: If your PM is doing this, your org has
3/ Stop playing project manager "But things won't ship on time!" Startup: Time box efforts, not outcomes. Let tech lead manage capacity BigCo: Partner with your TPM, don't compete with them The moment you own the timeline, you lose the ability to negotiate scope. Leaders:
4/ Stop being the requirements police "But they'll build the wrong thing!" Wrong approach: Detailed specs + heavy process Right approach: Clear outcomes + guard rails Startup: - One-pager with clear success metrics - Weekly team working sessions - Rapid prototypes and feedback
5/ Stop being the backlog janitor "Someone needs to groom the backlog!" Startup: Delete it. Start fresh. What matters now? BigCo: Archive old tickets quarterly. Keep only next quarter visible. Your job isn't managing tickets. Your job is managing value creation. Leaders:
6/ "But my team expects me to do all this!" Startup: Have the hard conversation about role clarity BigCo: Get your manager involved in resetting expectations Script: "I've been doing X, but it's preventing me from focusing on Y, which delivers more value because Z" Leaders:
7/ What to do instead: Startup PMs: - Own strategy, not tickets - Focus on weekly customer learning - Partner with tech lead on trade-offs - Keep process minimal BigCo PMs: - Build stakeholder coalition - Focus on quarterly outcomes - Partner with TPM/EM roles - Document key
8/ For PM Leaders: Your PMs fall into these traps because: - Role confusion - Unclear expectations - Wrong incentives - Fear of losing control Fix the system, don't blame the PM.
9/ Reality check: Doing "product owner" work feels safe - Clear deliverables - Visible progress - Team happiness But it's a career trap.
Real PM work feels uncomfortable: - Ambiguous problems - Uncertain outcomes - Hard trade-offs That's how you know you're doing it right. Follow @nurijanian for more PM reality checks 🤘🏼