If you've been around tech long enough, you've probably heard the jokes about product managers. The running gag is that we just sit around creating Jira tickets, micromanaging developers, and generally slowing everyone down. I will admit, I've laughed at those memes myself, because sometimes it really does feel like that. But the truth is, product management is not one-size-fits-all. Not every product manager works the same way, and not every product manager wants to work the same way.
For me, the role has never been about policing tasks or keeping a stopwatch on the team. I am not a fan of micromanagement. I do not believe in breathing down my engineers' necks or nudging designers every half hour to ask how the progress bar is coming along. I look at it differently. Being a product manager, at least in my book, is about leading by involvement.
When I say involvement, I don't mean pretending to be a designer or trying to ship production code myself. I mean that I like to step into the shoes of the people I am working with often enough to really understand what they are doing, where the friction points are, and what decisions actually make their work easier or harder. Sometimes that means tweaking a design myself to quickly illustrate an idea. Other times it means playing around with the code to understand what the engineers are dealing with. On different days, it could mean helping shape a marketing campaign or writing copy that ties the product to the larger story.
And that is before we even get into stakeholders and executives. A big part of product management is translating between the top-level vision and the day-to-day execution. Executives talk about roadmaps, revenue, market share. Consumers talk about pain points, frustrations, and small wishes that can make their life better. Engineers and designers talk about feasibility, scalability, and implementation. Someone needs to gobble all of that up and turn it into something coherent without getting lost in the noise. That someone is usually the product manager.
The Misunderstood Role
This is why I believe the role is misunderstood. From the outside, it can look like product managers just "talk" all day. And sometimes we do. But those conversations are what prevent projects from falling apart. Without someone making sure all sides are aligned, you end up with branching paths and fragmented visions. Designers build one thing, engineers build another, marketing sells a third, and executives wonder why none of it fits together. Filling those gaps is the unglamorous but essential part of the job.
That does not mean tools are useless. Jira, Trello, Monday, Notion, even a simple Excel sheet – they all have their place. I have worked with everything from giant corporate setups running Jira for dozens of microservices, down to small scrappy teams where we tracked work on spreadsheets and sticky notes. The tool is not what makes or breaks the product role. It is how you use it, and whether you remember that tools are supposed to support people, not the other way around.
My Approach to Product Management
My style leans toward keeping things light. I prefer quick sync-ups over long, exhausting meetings. A short check-in in the morning, maybe another at the end of the day if deadlines are tight. Enough to make sure everyone is in the loop, not so much that we waste half the day talking instead of building. If the team is motivated and knows what needs to be done, they do not need me calling every two hours for updates. They just need to know I am there, in the trenches with them, if they hit a wall.
And yes, sometimes I do jump in myself. I like to learn by doing. If I am working with designers, I will open the Figma file and play around with components. Not to redesign the whole thing, but to understand it better and maybe contribute ideas that come from firsthand exploration. If I am with the engineering team, I will look at the code, ask questions, and in some cases even make minor tweaks. If marketing is preparing a campaign, I like to join in the brainstorm and help align the message with what we are actually building. For me, it is about credibility. If your team sees that you are willing to get your hands dirty and understand their world, they respect the leadership more. It is not just words; it is action.
Staying Centered in the Chaos
At the same time, I try to keep a cool head. The role can easily burn you out if you let every conversation, every demand, every fire drill consume your energy. I try to stay centered. Take in all the noise, sort it, prioritize it, and hand it back to the team in a way that feels manageable. Because at the end of the day, that is what keeps momentum alive.
The Bridge Between Worlds
So when people ask me what a product manager does, my answer is this: we are the bridge. Between executives and engineers. Between designers and marketers. Between the product vision and the consumer reality. And being that bridge is less about micromanagement and more about involvement. You do not need to control every move. You just need to make sure no one is walking alone on their part of the bridge.
Maybe that does not sound as meme-worthy as "writes Jira tickets all day," but in today's market, it is what keeps products alive. At the end of the day, the product role is not about micromanaging people — it's about managing momentum. You set the pace, you keep the flow, and you fill the gaps. If you do it right, the team doesn't just follow instructions; they own the project with you.