shipped two complete PRDs yesterday in 4 hours

normally that's a 2-week grind

here's the actual workflow i use with claude code: step 1: research phase (30 mins)

i run a claude code agent to scan competitor docs, user feedback transcripts, and internal slack threads

it surfaces patterns i'd miss manually

the agent creates a research brief with direct quotes & links to sources

Most PMs struggle with difficult stakeholders. The advice? "Be more strategic." "Manage up better."

Sounds smart—but it's useless. If it worked, you'd already be doing it.

The real solution? It’s not what you think. Here’s what actually works 🧠👇 1/ First, a reality check:

If you're dealing with aggressive stakeholders, you're not alone. I spent 2 years getting steamrolled in meetings until I discovered how behavioral psychology changes everything.

your ceo gave you $0 for user research this quarter. your roadmap needs validation. & your competitors keep shipping.

smart teams run secret research engines that cost nothing & deliver better insights than $50k research tools.

here's the exact blueprint 🔬 1/ First, let's address the elephant:

Most "scrappy research" advice is dangerously oversimplified.

You need systematic methods, not just random conversations.

*Even with zero budget, you can conduct scientifically sound research.*

New PMs might find the RICE framework feels like pointless math.

I get it. I’ve mentored many PMs who hated it too, until I showed them the part no one teaches.

It's not about math. It's about clarity.

I'll teach you in 5 minutes what took me 5 years to learn: First, let's address the elephant in the room:

If you're feeling overwhelmed about getting the numbers "right", you're not alone.

Your boss doesn't expect perfect numbers. They want structured thinking.

Here's how to deliver that:
[2/20]

Most new PMs screw up A/B testing.

I did too: ran 17 tests in 6 months, learned nothing.

“Just ship 2 versions and see” is not real testing.

Learn in 4 mins how to run a successful A/B test without wasting 6 months like I did: 1/ The first rule of A/B testing:

Never start without a clear, measurable hypothesis.

Bad: "Let's test if users like the new design"

Good: "Changing the CTA color to high-contrast blue will increase click-through rate by 10%"

I spent 2 years as a junior PM stuck in approval hell. Every product decision needed a green light.

Then I watched a senior PM reshape our roadmap in one meeting.

The difference?

He didn't ask for permission. He asked for input, and led with clarity.

Here’s how to break free (what took me 2 years to learn, in 3 mins) 👇 1/ The hard truth: No one will ever hand you a "product authority license."

Your engineering lead won't.
Your CEO won't.
Your users won't.

Authority in product management is earned through consistent, confident decision-making.

"Perfect strategy, poor execution" is worse than "okay strategy, great execution."

You don't know if you failed because the strategy was wrong or because you didn't execute well. You've wasted time AND learned nothing.

Ami Vora (ex-WhatsApp, ex-CPO at Fair) dropped 7 counterintuitive lessons on Peter's podcast that most PMs will ignore: 1. Everyone is more tired than you think.

"Nobody wants to learn a new thing. What they want is a sense of relief. A sanctuary where stuff just feels like it's working for them."

When you build a product, you're not adding value. You're reducing exhaustion.

Stop doing these 'best practices' as a Product Manager:

- Backlog grooming
- Writing JIRA tickets
- Leading stand-ups
- Playing scrum master

A thread on what to do instead 🧵 1/ Stop running the daily standup

Your tech lead or EM should run it.

Why? Every minute you spend running process is a minute not spent on:

- Finding highest-impact problems
- Aligning stakeholders on vision
- Uncovering hidden assumptions

Leaders: Coach PMs to attend but not lead.

1/ Most product management books are consultant fluff that'll get you eaten alive in the real world.

These 5 work for technical PMs transitioning to product: 2/ User Story Mapping (Jeff Patton)

Stop writing endless Jira tickets with "as a user" templates.

This maps complex technical systems to actual user behavior.

The "Using Discovery for Validated Learning" chapter kills unnecessary features before they waste engineering time.

After studying high-performing PMs for years, I noticed something strange:

The most impactful product managers often do LESS than their peers.

They write shorter docs. Hold fewer meetings. Create simpler processes.

They've mastered making impact look effortless.

Here's how: I spent my first 3 years as a PM writing 30-page PRDs no one read and creating complex processes no one followed.

I thought "good product work = hard product work."

But what if the opposite is true? What if making it harder actually reduces your impact?

1/ Most PMs think "managing up" means clearer updates and better alignment.

Wrong.

You’re treating your manager like a stakeholder instead of your highest-leverage product bet.

Flip this mindset, and everything changes.

Let me show you how in 2 minutes. 2/ you know how sometimes you need managing up frameworks that work from daily updates through strategic influence through organizational navigation? Complete PM System has end-to-end stakeholder management, decision documentation, and communication tools:

prodmgmt.world/products/produ…

Your stakeholders aren't crazy.

After 6 years of product management, I've realized: every "difficult" stakeholder behavior has a hidden logic.

A thread on the psychology of product stakeholders 🧠 1/ Sales: The Future-Focused Hunters

What they see:
• Revenue targets looming
• Competitors taking deals
• Prospects making demands
• Commission at risk

What they feel:
• Urgency to close deals
• Fear of losing opportunities
• Frustration with product gaps
• Personal financial pressure

This is why they:
• Push for custom features
• Make promises to customers
• Escalate to leadership
• Sound desperate sometimes

Most product strategies are written backwards.

You start with vision, then wonder why your team can't execute it.

Elite PMs flip the sequence: Superpowers first. Vision second.

Here's the framework that separates executable strategy from strategy theater:

1/ A VP once asked me: "What would our vision be if we could only leverage our existing superpowers?"

I started to protest. Vision should be unconstrained.

Then I realized: every successful product I'd shipped was built on unique capabilities we already had.

Every failure was built on capabilities we wished we had.

2/

Most product hypotheses look like this:

"Doing X will do Y."

Improve by how much? For whom? Under what conditions?

This hypothesis cannot fail. No matter what happens, someone will find a way to call it successful.

That's not experimentation, it's BS.

Let's change this: Every testable hypothesis needs exactly five components:

[Action] what you're changing
[Outcome] what metric you're measuring
[Direction] specific magnitude you expect
[Users] exactly who this affects
[Conditions] when and where this applies

Miss any one of these and your hypothesis becomes unfalsifiable.

/1

I spent 3 years maintaining two roadmaps.

One for "business alignment" and another for "proper product work."

It was exhausting, ineffective, and totally unnecessary.

Here's what actually works for getting everyone aligned without the double work: 1/ The real problem isn't the roadmap format

Most PMs think it's about convincing stakeholders to accept a Now/Next/Later view.

But stakeholders aren't rejecting the format - they're rejecting uncertainty. And they're right to want clarity.

I know exactly what would fix our product org.

I just can't make it happen.

And after reading dozens of responses from PMs stuck in the same trap on Reddit, I finally understand why, and what actually works when you're accountable but not empowered. 🧵 Most PM advice assumes you have power you don't have.

"Align stakeholders on vision."
"Build a product operating model."
"Create outcome-based roadmaps."

Meanwhile: business units hold the budget, IT is accountable for results but can't steer decisions, and teams are ticket machines.

Every PM advice article preaches the same meeting prep gospel:

- Create structured agendas
- Define clear outcomes
- Prepare talking points
- Document decisions

Meanwhile, 95% of PMs are clicking "Join meeting" with 30 seconds to spare

1/12 There was a Reddit thread asking about meeting prep tools revealed everything

Top answer with 14 upvotes: "Brain, mostly. Pen, when necessary. The most important tool though is the toilet."

Another senior PM: "My mouse to click Join meeting. Anything beyond that I don't have the ROI to bother"

We're all living this lie

2/12

The biggest differentiator between good and average PMs in the AI era is the same as every other era.

They solve real problems instead of looking for places to jam AI into products. 1/ Everyone's obsessing over "AI literacy" and "prompt engineering skills."

Meanwhile the best PMs are still doing what they've always done:

Finding painful problems worth solving, understanding why they hurt, building things people actually want.

AI is just another tool in the toolkit.

Stop doing these 'best practices' in as a Product Manager:

- Backlog grooming
- Writing JIRA tickets
- Leading stand-ups
- Playing scrum master

A thread on what to do instead (from someone who learned the hard way) 🎞️ 1/ Stop running the daily standup

"But who'll run it if I don't?"
Startup: Your tech lead/senior eng
BigCo: Team lead/EM

Why? Every minute you spend running process is a minute not spent on:

- Finding highest-impact problems
- Aligning stakeholders on vision
- Uncovering hidden assumptions

Leaders: Coach PMs to attend but not lead.

I spent 3 years working with an engineering team that openly despised product managers.

Every interaction felt like negotiating with someone who wanted me to fail.

Here's what that toxic dynamic taught me about when to fight and when to walk away:

1/17 The warning signs were there from day one:

- Requirements were never "detailed enough" but they wouldn't explain what they needed
- Status updates? "You're the PM, you should know"
- Questions? "Stop wasting our time"
- Meetings? Either I was micromanaging or not involved enough

2/17

a senior PM i worked with was stuck at her level for 4 years.

great execution. strong metrics. glowing reviews.

then i asked her one question that changed everything:

"what story are you telling yourself about who you are?"

the answer revealed why 80% of PMs plateau 🧵 1/ she said: "i'm a high agency PM who gets things done no matter what."

"and how's that working for you?"

"great! my team knows i'll always deliver."

"then why haven't you been promoted?"

silence.