Stop sharing solutions with your team

One of the many mistakes I made when I started my product management career was thinking that if I shared a customer problem with the team, I must also present a ready-made solution.

This notion stems from managing up. You don’t go to the leadership team with a problem without providing options to solve it and a recommendation. However, this doesn’t hold true for your product team.

Of course, it’s fine to have ideas on how to solve a customer problem, but keep them to yourself for a bit. Let the product designer take a crack at the problem without your solution whispering in their ear.

If you share your solution prematurely, you introduce unconscious bias. Once your product designer or team has seen what you've put down, they can't unsee it. Even if they try to ignore it, your solution's presence will affect their thinking.

When solutions come in, analyse them, share your solution if you want, weigh the pros and cons, and determine the best solution for your business context.

If you're interested in how to improve your team's decision-making read Ambiguity and Decision Making.