By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres argues that product managers often wish their leadership, engineers, designers, and sales teams would behave differently, when the more productive move is to change their own behavior first. For each frustration, she shows how the PM's own actions (defining scope-level strategy, sharing business context and constraints, being available and curious, and telling a compelling roadmap story) shape how others respond. The piece matters because it reframes collaboration problems as partly within the PM's control, encouraging proactive leadership rather than blame.
01Key takeaways
- Write a strategy for your own scope before expecting leadership to define one.
- Share the business rationale and constraints with engineers so they can contribute meaningfully.
- Be available to designers and approach their work with curiosity before critiquing it.
- Give sales a compelling story about the roadmap so they stop over-promising features.
- Focus on changing your own behavior rather than waiting for others to change.
02Key sections
- Leadership Lacks a Clear Strategy
- Instead of waiting for leadership to define strategy, write a strategy for your own scope and test it with peers and your boss. Reacting to a concrete proposal is far easier than inventing one from nothing.
- Engineers Don't Contribute Ideas
- Engineers stay quiet when they lack business context, know the constraints, or believe ideation is not their role. Share the why and the limits, and signal that their ideas are equally valid.
- UX Doesn't Ask for Input
- Designers stop seeking your input if you are unavailable or respond to their work with criticism before understanding it. Be accessible, stay curious, and assume their decisions had good reasons.
- Sales Keeps Saying Yes to Requests
- Sales promises features when they have no compelling story to tell prospects about the roadmap. Give them a clear narrative of what is coming so they can close deals without committing to every request.
- Change Your Own Behavior
- Blaming others gets nowhere, so focus on what you can change. Torres notes that people often respond in kind when you change first.
03From the post
“"I wish my leadership team would pick one strategy." "I wish my engineering team would contribute ideas to our project." "I wish our user experience team would ask for my input earlier." "I wish our sales team would stop saying yes to feature requests." Instead of wishing other people would”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.