The CEO called me a terrible PM š¤”
Here is an incident that happened to me at my old startup. This literally gave me a wake-up call that shattered my "PM is mini-CEO" idea that all my mentors had told me about.
During a heated product roadmap + prio meeting, the actual CEO, berated me a lot and made fun of my "vision" doc. He called my user research "overrated guesswork" and dismissed the Jira workflow as "a waste of time". He then laughed at my definition of product-market fit and all the metrics I had decided. Mind you, I was the first PM hire at this startup at that time and I used to report directly to the CEO.
When I tried to defend myself with data, he accused me of cherry-picking stats and that I manipulated the data. He then demanded that I learn to code and make use of my degree. I studied Computer Science in college btw. When I asked Why? he said that I needed to create a working prototype by next week. This was abviously a joke but he had made a point, he thought that I was not doing real work.
As I left the meeting room, I realised two things: I'm not nearly as important as I thought, and this job isn't about changing the world, it's about surviving the brutal reality of business. It was a harsh reminder that in the end, the CEO and not me, calls the shots.
During a heated product roadmap + prio meeting, the actual CEO, berated me a lot and made fun of my "vision" doc. He called my user research "overrated guesswork" and dismissed the Jira workflow as "a waste of time". He then laughed at my definition of product-market fit and all the metrics I had decided. Mind you, I was the first PM hire at this startup at that time and I used to report directly to the CEO.
When I tried to defend myself with data, he accused me of cherry-picking stats and that I manipulated the data. He then demanded that I learn to code and make use of my degree. I studied Computer Science in college btw. When I asked Why? he said that I needed to create a working prototype by next week. This was abviously a joke but he had made a point, he thought that I was not doing real work.
As I left the meeting room, I realised two things: I'm not nearly as important as I thought, and this job isn't about changing the world, it's about surviving the brutal reality of business. It was a harsh reminder that in the end, the CEO and not me, calls the shots.
He is spot on. You product managers are next level useless.
How can you be a PM in tech when u know shyt about tech.
Let me be nice and put it so that you guys actually try to get it.
1. When you don't know tech you fantasise and keep bringing fantasy things on the table.
2. Dont claim you have data. You dont even know what data means. Work as a data analyst and then u will know how to use data. Else what ur CEO said is spot on brother. You are cutely picking things to make sense of ur cute idea. We feel like either slapping you or kissing you for ur cutenessš¤¦š»āāļø
3. You wont have the understanding with tech teams. And if they have to on board you on a hunch or idea that they have, something that would be understood in a second bw 2 technically sound people, will take 10s of meetings so that ur dumb brain would try to make peace with it. Forget understanding you will never get there...
People that are not technically sound have no buisness being a Tech Product manager. However if you are atleast experienced in building on the business side of things. You will still sail through because you clearly have ur expertise and dont dumbly wander far off ur boundaries. But people that know nothing of both business or tech like you, always ruin the org.
Hope u get what i am saying... All u need to do is get technical. And for idiot's sake dont call build a prototype things that ur CEO said as absurd. U r the only annoying absurd disgrace thing there my dear friendšš»
Jordon Dean
Stealth
a day ago
Looks like some PM did something to you and/or your team. You're right. PMs can be useless, just like some developers or bosses. Btw everything that is an app today was a fantasy of some crazy non tech dude at one point of time. Don't crap on non tech PMs, product vision, data based prioritisation, there are things a PM will understand in a second which a dev will need a bug story for, so that road at least, goes both ways. All the best surviving tech without a non tech PM, no one likes them maybe, but they haven't managed to replace them, even with AI. Yet.
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What is tech? Is coding tech alone?
Also , it's always grass on the greener side. Walk in someone's else shoes for a mile before commenting.
Bad people are there at every level, Devs, HRs, PMs ,CEOs , what not.
And other points as well, why to work as data analyst to understand data? Should it not be Inferential and OBservational Stats? Data Viz? This clearly shows that you feel title defines what a person does, but when you look out of the box you have made for yourself, you'll realise how many different nuances are there.
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Although I am not defending his behaviour, you should also take his criticism constructively. When you work so hard on something and someone criticized that, it's easier to take it on your ego than to objectively introspect where you are wrong and where they are. Maybe there are some gaps in your vision or that you overlooked something that's an obvious thing for the CEO. Their industry has made them ruthless and the ones who sugarcoat things don't survive and you should be aware of that if you report directly to a CEO
It is okay dude. You don't have to worry about this. What is in the past always teaches you something about yourself and the world.
Kendall Carmden
Stealth
2 days ago
It's wrong of you to get on the PM is mini CEO hype train.
Kendall Carmden
Stealth
a day ago
You are extremely illusioned by harbouring the thought "PMs are mini CEO". Bhai kaam kar aur khush reh, nahi to CEO room se nahi, laat maarke company se nikalega
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