Why You Probably Shouldn't Become a Product Manager
A reality check on the PM dream
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Alright, here's something I haven't said aloud since that time in college when I convinced myself I could learn guitar in a week: you might be chasing the wrong dream. And in this case, that dream is becoming a Product Manager. Yeah, I said it—the job everyone romanticizes as the "mini CEO" role isn't all that it's cracked up to be. In fact, it might just be a terrible fit for most people.
Let me back up for a second. I didn't choose product management. Product management chose me—or more accurately, my boss "chose" me after realizing I was spectacularly mediocre as an engineer.
Picture this: Me, a junior developer whose code was a less elegant solution and more controlled disaster. I was the guy who'd spend three days fixing a bug that should've taken three hours, and my pull requests looked like a crime scene—comments everywhere, spaghetti logic, and more dependencies than a soap opera character.
My technical skills were so legendarily bad that my team lead looked at me one day and said, "You know what? You'd make a great product manager."
And just like that, I was promoted from "guy who turns simple features into complex nightmares" to "guy who talks about why product management might be a nightmare for some".
The Tough Realities of Product Management
First, let's talk about what makes PM'ing tough. The skillset is a weird mix. You need strategic thinking sharp enough to cut through the organizational fog, adaptability that would make a chameleon look rigid, and empathy by the truckload: for your team, your users, and that stakeholder who thinks your feature priorities are garbage. On top of that, high agency is crucial—being proactive, taking ownership, and driving outcomes without waiting for instructions.
Not everyone's wired for constant context-switching, hard conversations, and solving puzzles with blurry edges, and that's okay. But if you don't love shifting gears a hundred times a day, engaging in ambiguity, and being the one to make things happen, you might find yourself overwhelmed by this role.
Product management is also about embracing discomfort. You're not the CEO, and often, you won't even be the visionary behind the ideas you're working on. You need to be okay with executing someone else's vision—especially if it's the right decision for the company, even if it isn't your own brilliant idea.
Even on the most empowered teams, your work as a PM often involves executing someone else's vision. You might finesse the tactics, but the direction usually comes from above. It's more about shipping features than setting the long-term goals & strategy. Despite what you might read from thought leaders on LinkedIn or even in Marty Cagan's book—which I genuinely admire—there is a real gap between the idealized version of product management and the day-to-day grind most of us experience.
It's not about mastering frameworks or canvases. It's about something far more nuanced. Product management is essentially professional translation—but not between languages. You're translating:
Customer pain into product solutions.
Business objectives into actionable strategies.
Technical constraints into human possibilities.
And that's just scratching the surface. It's about not just knowing what needs to be done, but stepping up and taking ownership to get it done, even if it's inconvenient or beyond the job description. The truth is, PMs must be comfortable with the messiness of being in the middle of it all, and they must bring humanity into their work—empathy, judgment, and leadership in the face of uncertainty.
This is all part of the harsh realities and the nuanced skills that make product management what it really is. As PMs, our superpowers are leading without authority and transforming uncertainty into direction while being the connective tissue for the team.
A Slow Burn: Measuring Impact as a Product Manager
Measuring your impact is hard. Sometimes even impossible to quantify in the short term. Imagine spending a quarter polishing an onboarding experience, only to see the metrics barely move. It might take months, maybe even years, to see if what you did made a difference. And during that time, the company will gravitate toward the flashy wins—the new features, the high-profile launches. You're like the drummer in a band, keeping the beat while everyone's cheering for the guitarist's solo. With all the focus on flashy wins, it can be challenging for a PM to see the fruits of their labour in the short run. If you need immediate validation to stay motivated, PM'ing might not give you the high you're hoping for.
The AI Challenge: Staying Human in the Age of Automation
And just as if the job weren't already demanding enough, there's now a new player at the table: AI.
Junior PMs are now facing a new kind of challenge where entry-level tasks are being automated faster than they can even learn them. Writing requirements, managing mundane tasks, prioritizing simple backlogs—these are now increasingly being handled by AI tools.
The low-hanging fruit is disappearing. To break into PM today, you've got to stand out by being truly human. It's not about memorizing frameworks or relying on tools; it's about demonstrating deep human understanding, empathy, and judgment. AI can help with certain tasks but can't navigate team dynamics, manage interpersonal conflicts, or deliver tough news to a CEO about their pet project. The skills that make a great PM are evolving, and it's becoming more about how effectively you can bring humanity into tech.
The Illusion of Frameworks & Canvases
And just like AI tools, templates, frameworks, and canvases can give you a false sense of security. They're useful, but they don't replace real experience. A lot of folks starting out think, "I'll just grab the Business Model Canvas or the Product Strategy Canvas, fill in the blanks, and presto—I've got a strategy!" But let me tell you, those canvases are just tools. They don't create a strategy; they simply provide a structure for it. The real work is in understanding the subtleties that lie beneath the surface.
It's the difference between following a recipe and understanding how to make adjustments based on the ingredients you have on hand. The canvas won't tell you when a stakeholder is being unrealistic, or how to deal with the tension between user needs and business constraints. That comes from experience—the kind where you burn a lot of rice before you finally learn how to make the perfect risotto.
Should You Still Be a Product Manager?
I'm not here to gatekeep. If navigating complexity, connecting dots others miss, and finding solutions in ambiguity sound exciting—go for it.
Product management is a journey of continual growth. There are many challenges, but for those who thrive in the middle of chaos and love solving problems that others shy away from, the rewards are unmatched. It's not about the title—it's about the impact you create, one decision at a time. Product management isn't just a job; it's about approaching challenges with curiosity, finding practical solutions to constraints, and understanding that success often looks different than expected.
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— Sam ✌️