An Introvert’s Guide to Product Management Leadership

As a product manager, it can often be difficult to blend personality traits with job responsibilities. I am one of those PMs who was thrown into the role without a true understanding of what it means to be a product leader. That’s not to say that I didn’t know what leadership was, but that I was not exposed to true leadership without formal authority. I did not consider myself to be a leader.

Product/Feature Prioritization

Prioritizing the right features can mean being first to market, delighting customers and users, and shows thought leadership in the industry. Picking the wrong features can mean building products nobody wants, incurring a lot of development cost for a product that doesn’t sell or move the needle, and playing catchup to competitors without releasing anything that users view as new and exciting.