Product Growth
Product Growth Podcast
PMs Are Screwed (Here’s Why)
0:00
-1:04:49

PMs Are Screwed (Here’s Why)

David Pereira, 2x Head of Product, exposes 3 traps wrecking teams, calendar-driven chaos, and how to drive real impact.

Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Get $100 off David's Mastering Product Discovery course using my code AAKASHxMAVEN

And thanks to our sponsors:

  • Product Faculty: Get $500 off the AI PM certification with code AAKASH25

  • Amplitude: Try their 2-minute assessment of your company’s digital maturity


Today’s Episode

Today, we’ve got probably the most controversial PM on the internet and he’s here to burn the playbook.

David Pereira breaks down why product teams are stuck in bullsh*t management. He’s not here to sugarcoat ANYTHING!

He’s here to show you why most PMs are just managing theater and how to escape it.

No fluff. Just sharp truths, hot takes, and a mirror to your calendar.

Warning: If you’ve ever felt like your job is more performance than product, this episode will hit hard.

And if you’re ready to lead without waiting for permission, it’ll show you how.

You’ll learn:

  1. What Is Bullsh*t Product Management – 00:03:07

  2. Common Traps for Most PMs – 00:15:25

  3. One Thing Constant in Product Management Is “Challenges” (and How to Solve Them) – 00:26:14

  4. “I’m a Terrible Product Manager” – 00:51:24

  5. How Can PMs Really Take Back the Driver’s Seat? – 00:58:53

Check It Out

Subscribe on YouTube


Here are the 5 Key Takeaways

1. Most PMs Aren’t Managing Products, They’re Managing Theater

Endless meetings. Output reports no one reads. Unlimited feature requests you take straight to engineering.

If what you’re doing doesn’t create value or clarity, it’s not product management.

It’s bullshit management, where you think you’re making an impact, but you ain’t.

It’s just noise that drains you and convinces everyone around you that you’re “busy.”

2. Product Theory Sells You The Promised Land

In product theory, you have a clear vision:

Own your roadmap, prioritize based on outcomes, talk to customers weekly, etc.

In reality? Decisions are made outside the team.

Strategy is MIA.
Roadmaps are just a pile of features to please stakeholders.
→ And “customer interviews” mean asking sales what they heard last week.

3. These 3 Traps Keep 97% of PMs Average

  1. Wants over needs: Stakeholders give you what they want. Your job is to find out what the user needs. Otherwise, you’re just adding bacon and fries to a bad order.

  2. The calendar runs your process: If you’re in 30+ hours of meetings a week, you’re not doing product. You’re attending meetings for the sake of it.

  3. The fear of saying no: Too many PMs say yes just to keep the peace and end up owning decisions they didn’t make. If you can’t connect the dots, don’t greenlight the feature.

4. Strategy, Discovery, and Delivery aren’t phases. They’re your spine.

Real product work sits on three fundamentals:

  1. Strategy = Say no with clarity
    What are we optimizing for? Who decides? Who owns the outcome?

  2. Discovery = Stop guessing, start uncovering
    Talk to users weekly. Name your assumptions. Validate with evidence.
    And please, explore more than one solution.

  3. Delivery = Ship value, not features
    Speed up with technical debt if needed and then pay it back.
    Clean your damn backlog. It ages like milk, not wine.

5. If You Want to be a 10x PM, Say “No” 10x More Than You Say “Yes.”

If being a “good product manager” means saying yes to everything AND never ruffling feathers, you may as well just not be a good product manager.

David has been called the business blocker. David has pushed back on CEOs. David has refused to be a backlog babysitter.

If doing the right thing makes you “difficult,” take that label every time.

You’re not here to look good.

You’re here to create value and sometimes that means pushing back, slowing down, or saying no.


Where to Find David

Get $100 off David's Mastering Product Discovery course using my code AAKASHxMAVEN


Loading...
If you prefer to only get newsletter emails, unsubscribe from podcast emails here.
If you want to advertise in the podcast, email productgrowthppp at gmail.

Up Next

I hope you enjoyed the last episode with Kate Syuma (where we dived deep into 25 product designs). Up next, we have episodes with:

Finally, check out my latest deep dive if you haven’t yet: How ACTUAL Job Seekers Have Succeeded in this Market.

Cheers,

Aakash

Refer a friend

Check out the Episode on Spotify

Discussion about this episode