Stop Feeding The Animals!

There are 4 animals that Product Managers struggle to avoid...

HIPPO - Higher Paid Person's Opinion

WOLF - Working on Latest Fire

RHINO - Really Here in Name Only

ZEBRA - Zero Evidence But Really Arrogant

Let's address the elephant that isn't in this room. These are the biggest detractors from following through on your vision and objectives.

HIPPO

Can you imagine being in an interview and being asked, why did you leave your last role? ...and you having to say "I listened to the hippo..."

A huge problem I see, and this is everywhere I have worked, is that Product Managers do not advocate for themselves to leadership! You shouldn't listen to anyone, regardless of role, telling you to appease the hippo. Basically, when the "Highest Paid Person's Opinion" is the only one that matters, you're throwing out all the good stuff: user data, market research, the team's insights. It's like saying, "My gut feeling is better than everyone else's," which, come on, rarely works out. Plus, it kills teamwork. Why bother sharing ideas if one person's voice overrules everything? And you end up building stuff nobody actually wants, which is a waste of everyone's time and money. Honestly, it's just bad process, and it makes it hard to figure out who's responsible when things go sideways.

WOLF

Okay, so, WOLF, or "Working on the Latest Fire," that's a real pain point for me. It's like, we're trying to build a solid product, right? But then, someone always comes along with a "bright idea" or complaint that derails everything. We drop what we're doing to chase this new shiny thing, and then another one pops up, and then another. It means we never actually finish anything properly. We end up with a product that's a jumbled mess of half-baked features, and we're constantly putting out fires instead of focusing on what our users really need. It's frustrating and makes it impossible to build something truly impactful.

RHINO

"Really Here In Name Only," is the worst! So, it's like we're pretending to be strategic, right? We're throwing around fancy terms like "high-value opportunity" and "strategic initiative," but in reality, it's just lip service. We're chasing after things that look good on paper, but they're completely detached from what our users actually need. We're building features that sound impressive in a presentation, but nobody uses them. It's all show, no substance. And it's incredibly frustrating because we're wasting time and resources on things that don't move the product forward, just to make someone look good. It feels like we're playing business theater instead of actually building something valuable.

ZEBRA

Okay, okay... this one is definitely the worst - especially in leadership. "Zero Evidence, But Really Arrogant", it's a thing and hopefully you never have to experience it. These are the types who think they know everything but push assumptions over evidence-based decisions. They want to domineer and hijack your strategy and vision. You have to fight back.

So, what's the solution to these problems?

Stand your ground. The highest paid person's opinion is just that, an opinion. Focus on gathering user feedback and competitive analysis on your product. We're talking win/loss analysis, feature matrixes, feedback and problem statements from Marketing/Sales/Support based on their interactions. Centralize these data points and have a means to demonstrate the data you use define your product strategy, define your roadmap and the VALIDATED vision you have for your product. This tackles the ZEBRA's as well.

On top of this, define capacity for value streams in your releases. Don't let teams work on the latest fire. You have a defined scope, the product is your baby, PROTECT THE BABY. Create dashboards, or use tools like Jellyfish to easily review the status of commitments you promised to a multitude of stakeholders.

If someone on your team is there in name only, first thing you should do it try and determine what's wrong. Nowhere I have ever worked has really cared about morale. Be an advocate for it and take initiative towards offering a working environment that is conducive to individuals mental health. Sadly, I've seen a lot of people check out. Even more unfortunate, that it affects others who want to be there. It's usually good to have analytics to determine how badly they've checked out. Use that as a tool for their supervisor and express the problem that you understand in confidence, so there's an opportunity to correct anything the company may be doing wrong vs. assuming the individual is malicious.

Lastly, you own the vision. You own the strategy. Advocate for yourself using data. Nobody can argue data-driven decisions.