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Rameez Kakodker
PTOTD#69

It’s better to be an interesting product manager than a smart one. Interesting PMs have wider and unique world views.

Thoughts on the PTOTD

Early in my career, I focused on being a smart PM – getting things run by the book, focusing on the bigger picture. 4 years in, I got the best advise a PM could get: be interesting.
You see, stakeholders, leaders and customers hang to every word said by a great PM, not because they are the smartest, but they are interesting.

Striving to be the smartest person in the room will only get you so far – there is bound to be someone smarter than you, somewhere. However, by taking on bigger or more challenging roles early in your career, you’re able to craft a unique proposition for yourself that cannot be replicated. And that will make you interesting.

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  1. Reliable PMs tend to take the least amount of risk and consistently delivery tiny incremental growth. Good PMs tend to take more risks and deliver sporadic bursts in growth. Choose your path.
  2. Do not confuse features for benefits
  3. The wider your perspective, the better your problem defining ability.
  4. In the early stages of your product, it’s perfectly fine to do things that don’t scale. It’ll help your product grow.
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