How do you manage role ambiguity as a product manager?

Create a living document of "what is success" for your role in 3, 6, and 12 months. Add what's out of scope. Align with Engineering, Design, Line Manager, and key stakeholders to surface differences in expectations. Then address these with your line manager. When in doubt, overcommunicate.

Having a "SPA" for each of the activities will help. SPA stands for Single Person Accountable. ‘Single Point of Accountability’ is the ‘Power of One’. Having a single person accountable for each of the action items is indeed essential to get things done successfully. Having multiple resources accountable for action or task will lead to diluting the responsibility. Hence it is essential to have “one person” accountable for each action item to have full ownership and accountability – which makes the execution seamless. Not one department, not one function, it is the Single Person Accountable for completing every task. This ‘single person’ accountable is abbreviated as SPA.

As a counterpoint: your role is never going to get clear, and good PM leaders will deliberately scope in ambiguity as you grow. I look at clarity as a bullseye: you have areas of your domain that are crystal clear. You own it. You drive against it. Great. You have a much wider area that is mostly clear. You probably own it. You own 90% of it. You can mostly be blamed when it goes wrong. Great. And you have a wide rim around your role that is very ambiguous. You need to deliver here to drive overall impact in the domain. And you also heavily overlap with another PM. Or marketing. Or design. Or somebody. And that's ok. In fact, learning to deliver in that ambiguous space is essential for PM growth.

As a product manager, it is critical to have the end goal in mind - that's the key. The role ambiguity remains throughout the execution of the project. However, roadmaps and well-structured teams are critical overcoming these challenges. Promoting a culture of open communications is crucial, especially with internal and external customers.

Just as important as aligning your role to your vision - is aligning your vision to the needs of the business AND getting the business to agree on the hierarchy of those needs. As a PM you very well might find and have vision for the best thing to build. However, if you cannot align most of your exec team/ stakeholders/ customers to the need to solve that problem at this time - then your feature/ launch will most likely not succeed. The role of the Product Manager is always on some level to drive impact, but how that is done and how much of that hinges on aligning your business around a hierarchy of needs - varies from business to business.

Another way to say this is, “Don’t lose sight of the objective.” If your vision is to have the create worlds #1 selling widget, you can get caught up in all the great features and the world of possibilities to get there. You can’t lose sight of the fact that you have to actually create the widget. Focusing on the objective and the steps to get there help give a clear sense of direction to get through the ambiguity.

RACI forms a great way to understand who will do what. But a lot of times, teams fight with each other to take the cherry ?? from the cake. The insecurity of the boss kills the reportee and their talents. This toxic culture does not allow any framework to work. But a team built on trust, respect and friendship create wonders and mostly music ?? over noise!

In my experience, I would suggest applying what I refer to as "collective engagement". This simply means having all stakeholders involved in resolving any role ambiguity- the senior leadership team, project/development teams, user departments/clients, and third-party consultants if necessary. The goal here is not just to define and clarify your role as a Product Manager but also to have all roles and responsibilities defined in an unambiguous manner. Unambiguous literally means that everyone has a clear understanding of their responsibilities. If necessary use a RACI chart/Responsibility assignment matrix, and make sure you follow up with critical stakeholders to avoid confusion. Transparency and open communication are key factors.

I see a lot of small companies working as 'feature factories' spending their time in the solution space working on the "what" and "how" of the product. The reality is that meaningful movement depends much more on the "why" which is found spending time in the problem space of the product spectrum. WHY is this a problem? WHY do we need to solve it? WHY is this going to get us closer to achieving our goals? etc.

Be proactive in communicating with your team and stakeholders. Keep them updated on your progress and ask for feedback regularly. Build relationships with other teams and stakeholders. This will help you get the information and support you need to be successful.

Regardless of how much we "think" we know, we never know it all. That's what a team is for —?learn from each other —?so we become better versions of ourselves, and create a better product.

Collaboration comes on the heals of trust. Trust comes on the heals of effective communication at the appropriate stakeholder levels. Having clarity on roles and responsibilities at the onset is key. All the above lead to effective feedback for positive progress and issue resolution.

Product managers can fill a variety of roles depending on the organization. As a non-engineering focused product manager, you might be more valuable specializing as the voice of the end user, or supporting marketing and client communication efforts. Looking for gaps in existing team skills is a great way to find the product management niche that works best in your company.

Some practical advice that has helped me in the past: - Clarify goals and what success looks like for the current task/assignment/time period. - Take stock of the information you have - document and visualize them so that you can easily describe what you’re trying to do to others. Visuals are 100x more powerful than words. GenAI diagramming tools makes this 10x faster. - If you feel stuck, approach peers and superiors with the question > “can I ask you for some advice?”; people immediately drop their guard when it’s a discussion or brainstorming session and they disambiguate with you. - Always document and socialize your risks and unknowns.

Any product manager is expected to deliver in the face of ambiguity and being open to adapt is a pre-requisite. In the context of role definition this can be done by creating a personal framework of what all tasks a product manager needs to do to take the product forward. This framework should take all the earlier steps into consideration to come up with prioritization to select the key tasks that will bring the most value to the product.

Growth mindset is must to maintain your sanity as a Product Manager. Product Management is a role that not only differs from company to company but also day to day within the same company. The first step to manage ambiguity is to acknowledge that it will exist for all the PM roles, and ambiguity gives you an opportunity to learn and be better at what you do tomorrow.

As a Product Manager, one of your main responsibilities is to be a human disambiguator. You are the steady force in the ever-changing ebbs and flows of daily business. As such, you have to be adaptable yourself, and also capable of helping your team adapt along the way. While teams typically cannot thrive in completely constant change, you must keep your team nimble enough to handle necessary changes (or those you have no control over).

In product management, adapting to change is a necessity. To embody this adaptability, I think of Bruce Lee's words: 'Be like water, my friend.' Water flows, adapts, and changes form to fit its container. In our roles, this translates to embracing experimentation, learning, and iteration within our product development processes. It's about being fluid in our approach and finding our way around obstacles rather than colliding with them. By adopting a 'water-like' mindset, we can seize opportunities and overcome challenges gracefully. This approach doesn't just allow us to survive in a world of change - it enables us to thrive, innovate, and deliver exceptional value in the most uncertain times.

The ability to adapt to change, new information or feedback is a critical skill for Product Managers. When I was at Amazon, one of the leadership principles(LP) was “Leaders are Right A lot…they seek diverse perspectives to disconfirm their beliefs”. This LP is often misunderstood but the premise is to always seek new information to get to the right decision. I’ve personally joined meetings with a perspective on the topic to discuss but after talking with other stakeholders, reviewing customer data, and learning more about the risk/rewards - I completely changed my perspective to align on a different path. Stay flexible and willing to adapt to change…it’s a daily habit you must embrace as a PM.

In today’s world, the universe rewards those who are constantly developing themselves with or without any push. As a Product Manager, you must develop a personal development plan for yourself either quarterly or semi-quarterly or any other schedule possible so you can be able to gain the industry knowledge and personal capacity to excel at your role. As a product manager, you can engage in mentoring junior PMs and by so doing you are sharpening your skills for the better. I think personal and professional development should be self-driven don't wait for your manager or anyone else to do that for you. It should be part of your vision board as a Product Manager.

Create a roadmap for yourself like you do for your products when it comes to growing your skills. Identify key goals and outcomes for the year when it comes to upskilling. Research different product certifications, courses, or workshops that will help increase your competencies. Also, learn about your specific industry and seek out the same learning opportunities as well. Lastly, ask for feedback on what you’re working on whether that’s from your manager, peers, or even your customers.

Yes! My first role as a product manager I was just pulled into it with no training and had to learn on the fly. The next company I worked for invested 6 weeks training me in product management and encouraged me to get industry certifications in it, and now I feel SO much more knowledgeable about how to do the job. You don't know what you don't know. Even if you've been a PM for a while, you should still take training classes to brush up on new things once in a while.

Product management is much more than managing the products. It’s also about the multitasking of managing teams, such as your developing engineers, marketing, finance and sales groups, end user customers, outside sourcing companies, and properly timing the evaluation and release of your products. Taking the time to plan for the successful product launch up front will allow you to effectively juggle these elements down the road.

To grow as a product manager, start by identifying key areas of focus such as strategic thinking, communication, and technical expertise. Read widely: Books like "Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love" by Marty Cagan can provide great insights. Online learning: Platforms like Coursera offer courses on product management. Network: Attend meetups or online forums to learn from others in your field. Seek feedback: Regularly ask for feedback from peers and superiors to understand your strengths and areas for improvement. Find a mentor: A seasoned product manager can provide valuable guidance and insights. Practice: Apply new knowledge and skills in your daily work, and don't be afraid to take on challenging projects.

Product Management is not a function for people who crave stability and predictability. As a tech role, I believe it's the closest to entrepreneurship (engineering and design also come close). So, just like entrepreneurs, great PMs have an above average: 1) risk-tolerance, 2) ability to perform under pressure, 3) creativity (comes from having to work with constraints), 4) knowledge ramp up on new skills (comes from having to wear a multitude of hats in different contexts), and 5) curiosity and desire to learn

This is the BEST part of being a PM. Yes, it's challenging, but every team, project, and company is different which makes PM exciting! There's always a new hill to overcome or something new to learn. Never a dull moment!

Role ambiguity can be a blessing to get creative, innovate, and come up with new solutions to problems. The best product managers want to think outside of their role, extend their responsibilities, even possibly start skunkworks projects that can become products, and get buy-in from the organization to build even more.

I always remember being approached about leading a mobile data team (many years ago) and when I asked to see the role description, it was a blank piece of paper. They knew what they wanted, however had no idea what the role should be, so it was the ultimate role ambiguity! That was the perfect challenge, to create and mould what I wanted the role to become. Don't see the challenge as a negative, embrace it as that allows you to create something unique.

Embrace it! It's a chance to iterate and experiment. The best products come from experimentation and validation. Be curious, evolve, explore! All good innovations, roles, opportunites, start in an ambigious state. Things that are well understood are problems already solved. Apply your skills, collaborate, get mentoring, but run with it!

You embrace it! Ambiguity will never go away and do we really want it to? Being a product manager our super power is our ability to find a path forward when no one exists. What you can do is remain curious, ask the questions that people might consider 'dumb', and figure out just one next thing to do.

Part of the issue is that most of the commentary I see treats ambiguity as some enemy to slay. The goal of PMing (and life in general) isn’t necessarily to reduce the amount of ambiguity in your decisions, your day, your life. It isn’t even to make the “right” decisions. The goal is to make the best decision with the partial information you have at the time. PMing is a series of bets and your goal is to spend time finding and making great bets, not fretting over the outcomes of those bets. The difficult part is balancing how much time and effort to spend gathering insights before making a bet. I’d rather talk about that.

Companies implement product management based on unsupported opinions and vague ideas lacking methodological foundation. The outcome is role ambiguity. We can decode the product management domain with four different approaches to product management: ? Generalization approach (product manager does everything, aka CEO of the Product). ? Technology approach (product manager is part of product development and subservient to the development method). ? Business approach (product manager is focused on the business aspects of the product, primarily money). ? Methodology approach (product management is governed by foundation rules, as in PMTK). Accordingly, any assertion about product management must be framed relative to a specific approach.

Looking for a "Cure" or "Fix" for ambiguity is not the answer. Remember, we blaze trails, we look for new and exciting ways to solve problems, and understand the needs of others to drive up the value of our products. Naming that uncertainty can be difficult to navigate, remember that tools of discovery and continuous learning celebrate the journey of learning. When we become "all-knowing" and ambiguity is gone, there might not be any more value to go after..... This can be true for your product and your career.

Any time I've experienced role ambiguity in Product, I've used that as an opportunity to define things myself. If you don't know how you contribute value, and can't prove it, expect to be chopped. Align on a business outcome to chase and run measurable experiments to chase it, each one helping add determination and lead you towards focus, learning, and success. Become the expert.