9 Red Flags in Product Management

Be careful. Most “products” are, in fact, projects.

This story is based on a free post in The Product Compass newsletter: https://www.productcompass.pm/i/135717698/red-flags-in-product-management

Be careful. Most “products” are, in fact, projects.

9 Red Flags to Avoid:

1. Large PRD: You start an initiative by documenting everything.
2. Feature factory: You implement the requirements. “Why” is irrelevant.
3. Waterfall: All the requirements are collected in the “initial phase.”
4. Gantt roadmap: A time-based, feature-based roadmap.
5. No discovery: No need to validate ideas before implementing them.
6. No designer: There is no Product Designer on the team.
7. No analytics: You have no idea how people use your product.
8. Customer in charge: Powerful customer(s) make all the decisions.
9. No strategy: You try to maximize sales by satisfying all customers and grasping every opportunity.

Here is a better way:

1. Your cross-functional team is empowered to solve the problems.
2. PM, Product Designer, and Lead Engineer perform Product…