“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” — Maya Angelou

This week’s “7 Truths of Product Management” focuses on ➡ flexibility ⬅ , but not the physical kind. While staying healthy is great, being a great product manager goes way beyond physical flexibility.

We’ve discussed being a jack-of-all-trades, empathetic, curious,
and experienced. After careful research and experience, we often develop strong opinions and want to stick to them. We’ve listened, applied our knowledge, and believe our chosen path is ideal. However, situations change, and priorities shift (even if leadership hasn’t read my post on consistency https://lnkd.in/exGsBtv3 ).

💠 Adaptability is key to becoming a successful product manager.💠 While we may consider ourselves “CEOs of our products,” we don’t have the same level of visibility as others. The CEO or CTO might possess crucial information we haven’t yet discovered. While their requests may appear sudden, trusting their vision is crucial.

I’ve witnessed countless senior engineers and product managers “fight to the death” over ideas, which is sometimes acceptable. However, 👉 being flexible and adaptable is usually in our and the company’s best interest. 👈

This adaptability applies to various situations, from prioritizing new features to navigating organizational changes, mergers, acquisitions, or even managing new roles or product lines. ⛔ Constant negativity is detrimental.
It discourages management, frustrates colleagues, and lowers morale, ultimately benefiting neither you nor the company.⛔

Of course, product managers should voice their opinions. Provide feedback, let the decision-makers consider it, and trust them to use that information for future planning.

Once a plan is set, embrace the change 🤗 . I’ve worked on initiatives I believed lacked value, and frankly some of them did. However, after presenting my perspective, I embraced the change, rallied the team around the new direction, and pushed forward despite challenges. Complaining would have been disastrous. Lack of enthusiasm from sales, half-hearted support from operations, and overall negativity would have doomed the product.

💡 Remember, adaptability and a positive attitude are essential for thriving in the dynamic world of product management.