Step Back to Lead

Good managers know when to step back.

Intervening too often stifles creativity, ownership and morale. Teams thrive when leaders provide clear direction, trust their abilities and give them space to execute. Micromanagement creates bottlenecks, while autonomy pushes innovation and accountability.

The best work happens when leaders empower, not overshadow.

A short post about trust between a founder and their first Head of Product: Scaling with a Head of Product.

Scaling with a Head of Product

Trust between a founder and their first Head of Product defines whether a startup scales or stalls.

Founders often start as the Head of Product, driving vision, roadmaps and hiring. But as a company grows, splitting attention across fundraising, culture, operations and strategy leaves product leadership exposed. Bringing in a Head of Product isn’t just inevitable—it’s essential. The challenge is doing it without breaking the momentum or diluting the founder’s vision.

Alignment is the foundation. A great Head of Product doesn’t just execute—they embody and challenge the founder’s instincts, building scalable systems around them.

Feedback That Builds

Feedback often triggers defensiveness. Misunderstood intent feels like an attack.

Clarity is your shield. When offering feedback, state your purpose plainly. Highlight the goal - helping, not harming.

Good feedback strengthens, never wounds. Make your intent impossible to misread.

Leaders thrive on connection. Taking time to engage with teams builds trust and fuels collaboration.

The risk lies in misreading commitment. Valuing late nights over outcomes sends the wrong message, tying effectiveness to hours rather than impact.

Great leadership doesn’t trade presence for results. It inspires through balance and focus.

One of the smartest things the new CEO did was start an “open door” policy. His version of that was walking around and getting to know people, but also inviting anyone and everyone to stop by his office after 4 p.m. to talk; there was no agenda. He let them know that he would stay as late as necessary if they wanted to chat. Many nights he didn’t leave the office until 8 or 9 p.m.

David Rohlander, The CEO Code

When Teams Don’t Need a PM

A team doesn’t always need a dedicated product manager.

In startups, founders often take on this role naturally, using their deep understanding of the market and their vision for the product.

In larger companies, if the team already has a strong handle on strategy, data and market needs, they can absolutely operate without a formal PM. However, someone still needs to take charge of the product function - making prioritisation decisions clear and aligning the team around common goals.

More Than Just ICE

Feature prioritisation isn’t always about frameworks like ICE (Impact, Confidence, Effort), Kano or MoSCoW.

Sometimes, it’s about building momentum - creating buzz, lifting your team’s morale, staying ahead of competitors or even strengthening internal relationships.

The challenge is finding the balance between chasing these quick wins and staying true to your long-term vision.

Sharing your mistakes with your team can speed up everyone’s growth. Be honest about your errors, even when your boss is around.

Just don’t overdo it - finding the right balance helps maintain trust and confidence in your leadership.

Strategy Narrative

Strategy is about inspiring others to take action. A helpful way to craft your strategy narrative is by breaking it into five elements: Reflection, Ambition, Jeopardy, Hope and Solution. This structure helps bring clarity. I learned this approach from Strategy Needs Good Words.

Think Like a Farmer

I can’t recall where I found this picture, but it’s such an interesting analogy. Leadership is like farming—nurture the right conditions and growth will follow.

That said, sometimes you end up with the wrong crops or weeds mistaken for crops and it’s just as important to weed those out.

Culture is shaped by the people within it. Sometimes, one person is all it takes to spark positive change.

An employee who offers genuine encouragement, lends a hand to solve a problem or suggests small but meaningful improvements can transform a team’s energy — one action at a time.

This is the quiet yet powerful force of influence.

Amplify their voices.
Support them.
Elevate them.

Let their impact ripple further.

Silos.

Break them whenever you see them.

Silos keep teams from seeing the whole market picture.

Silos risk losing sight of the customer, prioritising internal goals and creating a fragmented experience.

Silos slow everything down - teams hold onto information, delaying solutions.

Silos leave teams blind to risks outside their scope.

Expertise vs open-mindedness.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if someone’s perspective is genuinely the best approach or if they’re just anchored in familiar thinking. What if they don’t even know what “awesome” could look like?

On the other hand, knowing when to hold your ground versus when to let things go can be even trickier. What if I don’t know what “awesome” feels like and am just comfortable with my usual approach?

Define who’s making the call before a debate starts.

That person takes in everyone’s input but in the end they own the final decision.

It cuts down on endless debates and helps the team align around a single direction—even if not everyone agrees at first.

A short post about unstoppable teams.

Weathering the Torpedoes

All teams will face this moment sooner or later.

Torpedoes hit and chaos erupts. This feels like the end.

You see those who freeze and are lost in analysis or despair. Others grab buckets, extinguish fires and patch the holes. Those who can’t handle the shitstorm often leave or, worse, switch off — but the team that stays learns.

Each crisis builds resilience and over time, the screams fade, the paralysis lessens and the team grows steady.

One day, the torpedo hits again but nobody panics. Everyone acts, shoulders the load and trusts each other to hold the line.

That’s the moment you know your team is unstoppable.

Lead with Problems, Not Solutions

Sharing problems doesn’t mean solving them.

Early in a product management career, it’s tempting to package every problem with a solution. It feels efficient and helpful but it can limit your team’s creativity. Presenting ready-made answers shifts focus from understanding the problem to critiquing your idea. This shortcut skips the messy, collaborative process where the best solutions often emerge.

Teams thrive when they tackle challenges together. Give them the problem—leave space for their brilliance.

Agile Isn’t Chaos

Agility is misunderstood. True agility adapts to change without succumbing to chaos. It’s never about rushing decisions.

The best teams balance flexibility and structure. Agility thrives on collaboration, iterative progress and responsiveness — anchored by clear direction. Without this balance, chaos replaces speed and quality falls victim to a mirage of progress.

Agile isn’t a strategy. It’s how strategies breathe.

Agile vs Strategy

Using no-reply emails puts up a barrier and can leave customers feeling ignored.

Instead, businesses should use email addresses that invite replies and ensure responses. It’s a simple way to build stronger relationships and gather valuable feedback.

PMs, Step Back to Move Forward

When PMs and PDs overlap, clarity saves teams.

PMs and PDs often talk to customers, pitch ideas and think about UX. Overlap is natural but not all tasks require both voices. If PDs excel at crafting intuitive experiences, PMs should step back and refocus. Their time is better spent refining strategy and building cross-team alignment.

Stepping back isn’t losing control—it’s enabling brilliance.