The Subtle Dark Comedy of Being a Feature PM

A Product Manager at a popular app plans three new features.

Two require dependencies from other teams. The third doesn’t, but leadership won’t prioritise it because it’s not flashy enough.

So the PM does what PMs do: cajole. They reach out to the dependency teams, making their case. Those teams nod politely and do nothing. They have their own priorities.

The PM is stuck.

Plan B: convince leadership that the non-dependency feature is actually worth building. After weeks of lobbying, it works! Leadership gives the green light.

There’s just one small addition , an enhancement that makes the feature better. Which, of course, introduces a new dependency on another team.

The PM sighs and starts cajoling again.

Six months later, the feature ships: a BUTTON in the top-right corner of a screen that only 20% of app users visit.