They’re not product people
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
Too often, we expect non-product people to act like product people.
We forget that, it’s often the behaviors that “rub us the wrong way” that make others great at their roles.
/ Sales advocating for their deal.
/ Support advocating for a user.
/ Engineering advocating for investments in tech infrastructure.
/ Finance/Legal advocating for long-term protection of the business.
/ Founders advocating for bold (albeit underfunded) product bets.
This reframing helps me cultivate genuine respect and not take offense.
We need different functions and different people — each with their own unique strengths and behavioral tendencies.
They’re not product people — and that’s perfectly okay.
Articles for Startup Product Leaders
Get 1 concise, actionable tip each week
Don’t take my word for it…
“Your posts are consistently hitting the nail on the head. Appreciate the experience.”
“Please keep sharing your experiences – a lot of your recent posts had great nuggets of value”
“You will be hard-pressed to find a smarter, more caring, empathetic executive.”
“Josh is a stellar Product professional. Out of all the books on his desk, I expected one to be authored by him.”
