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Why Product Management Feels So Hard

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Blog Author: Rina Alexin

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Product Management Challenges Infographic

Product management feels harder than it should

It’s not because teams are lazy. Not because PMs lack skill, either.

But because the work is happening inside unclear roles, fuzzy decision rights, and growing strategic expectations.

We looked at what over 600 product managers said were their biggest frustrations at work. Our study shows open responses, in their own words.

Clear patterns showed up.

The three challenges that show up most often

Roles and Responsibilities (23%)

  • PMs are being asked to own outcomes without clear authority.
  • Decision rights are vague.
  • Accountability is inconsistent.

Process and Lifecycle (21%)

  • Teams are busy, but not always aligned.
  • Discovery, delivery, and learning are disconnected.
  • Gaps show up between strategy and execution.

Customer and Market Understanding (13%)

  • Customer input exists, but it does not consistently shape decisions.
  • Feedback is gathered, but not always turned into insight.
  • Roadmaps are still driven more by internal pressure than evidence.

Hear from Productside Learners

“It finally gave us language for problems we knew existed but couldn’t name.”
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Across responses, a few things consistently reduced friction

For role clarity

  • Clear ownership of responsibilities

  • Explicit decision-making models

  • Shared language for navigating stakeholder expectations

Get the RACI and DACI templates to map out shared responsibility and decision frameworks.

For process and lifecycle

  • A shared view of the product lifecycle end to end

  • Roadmaps anchored to outcomes and success signals

  • A consistent product operating model teams can apply

Read the Productside Blueprint eBook to learn how to apply these and lead to real product and business outcomes.

For customer understanding

  • Continuous, hypothesis-driven discovery

  • Conversations focused on problems, not solutions

  • Turning customer input into shared insights that inform decisions

Use the Voice of the Customer workbook to drive your roadmap with what matters to your customer

Lack of motivation? Nope, it’s a definition problem.

Understand where role confusion pops up most and what actually helps teams reduce the friction by taking our Optimal Product Management Course.
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About The Author

Rina Alexin

Rina Alexin, the CEO of Productside holds a BA with honors from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is also a member of the AIPMM.
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