How to work with product managers without losing your mind

Product managers decide what gets built, how teams move, and what ships. Sean Goedecke lays out how to work with them without losing your mind.

The short version: read the problem before jumping to solutions. Ask what's being measured. Understand why they're saying yes to something. Most of us know the feeling — you're in a meeting, a PM pitches a feature, and you nod along while quietly wondering who actually needs this.

Working with product managers means speaking the same language without pretending everything is a "growth lever." It means pushing back when the timeline doesn't make sense. It means asking what gets cut, not just what gets added. La migra app, la gente, the cousin who runs the side business — they all have a voice when PMs get it right.

Why this matters for us: the PMs shaping our tools and workplaces are mostly working from the same playbook, and learning how they think gives us a louder say in what actually gets built.