• Product leadership is concerning: provide inconsistent feedback, limited coaching, and little recognition of strong performance. Frequent gaslighting and minimizing of one's experience contribute to team dysfunction.
• Blame-oriented culture: Product Managers are held accountable for delivery issues while engineering accountability is minimal. Most feedback PMs receive is negative; limited encouragement makes it difficult to grow or feel appreciated for your efforts.
• Speed over quality mindset: pressure to ship quickly results in incomplete features, technical debt, weak end-to-end UX, frustrations from engineering team, and lost credibility on the PM feature owner.
• High burnout risk: sustained stress and dysfunction negatively impact morale and well-being; many peers reported physiological issues (anxiety and nightmares) due to the team dysfunction. HR will not protect or effectively support product managers from dysfunction caused by Product Leadership.
• Limited career growth: leadership opportunities are limited, and strong contributors are often overlooked and even marginalized.
• PMs are not set up for success: minimal onboarding and limited support in a convoluted product environment. A senior PM was hired, promoted, and fired within 4 months.
