[Controversial] Why do most PMs chase highs that end up hurting the product?

Here's what I think. I welcome your opinion on this as well.

1. Jumping to execution

When PMs lack compelling tasks, they jump to flashy but irrelevant projects.

A good PM stays ahead of engineers to prevent this. Both startups and big tech companies fall into the trap of chasing immediate gratification over genuine user needs.

2. Playing “hero” to burning fires

Anecdotal prioritization hinders product success.

Instead of focusing on features, we need to rely on data for clear direction. Although logging events and metrics seemed tedious, it was crucial.

As a PM, I have seen first hand when a project moves away from a real pain point to a CxOs pet project.

What you need to do is to map out the baseline user expectations and tracked your feature performance against those.

By categorizing features from L1(Basic) to L3(Advanced), we ultimately shifted from ticket-by-ticket prioritization to a structured approach.

3. Hounding people to get things done

As a PM, constantly pinging team members about deadlines feels satisfying short-term but is inefficient and can lead to micromanaging.

Instead, try to focus on creating efficient systems to drive execution. Establish clear communication guidelines with leadership to avoid unnecessary follow-ups.

You can't eliminate all toxic habits, but awareness of them can improve long-term team performance.