Product Manager Memes

Few rivalries in business run as deep as Sales vs Product. One’s chasing the quarter; the other’s building the future. Sales wants to say yes to every deal. Product wants to say no — or at least, “not yet.” Somewhere in that tension lies the company’s actual strategy. A little friction is healthy. It keeps both sides honest. Sales grounds Product in market reality. Product keeps Sales from promising the impossible. The key is balance — respect without submission. When either side “forgets who’s boss,” things fall apart: customers get features that don’t scale, or products no one buys. Strong leaders don’t aim to eliminate tension; they shape it. The best organisations turn this uneasy relationship into a feedback loop — where Sales fuels insight, and Product channels it into value. Hate’s not the problem. Indifference is.