Breaking Free From the Happy Path
How to balance harmony with innovation
Are these product manager issues?
Engineering is unable to recreate an issue that hurts multiple customers.
Sales reports the growth forecast can't be achieved.
The Finance team estimates product costs are too high.
If you feel these are NOT a product management problem then you could be seeking the happy path to a harmonious product team.
Understanding the Happy Path in Product Management
One way to handle the many demands on product management is to avoid ruffling feathers with colleagues. So much of product management depends on relationships and getting help from others.
In the short term going down the happy path brings positive feelings. The product team is one big happy family.
With many resource constraints and dependencies, following the happy path lets you balance your work and personal life.
Your happy path approach to product management has helped you develop foundational product manager skills:
You are an expert at reaching consensus.
You have strong relationships with people throughout the organization.
Your non-confrontational communication style brings cooperation to your initiatives
The downside of following the happy path is the product suffers. The biggest drawbacks of being a happy path product manager are:
Risk of Ignoring Problems: Important issues are overlooked and cause long-term problems
Perceived Lack of Leadership: Peers and leaders doubt the ability of the product manager to solve problems
Stifled Innovation: Avoiding a challenging discussion results in missing opportunities for growth and innovation
Recognizing these risks is the first step to balancing the happy path with driving long-term product goals.
How can you build on your great relationships and avoid these downsides?
Strategies to Balance Happy Path and Long-Term Initiatives
The good news is you have great relationships that can support in mitigating your happy path tendencies.
Here are strategies to overcome the happy path mindset:
Embrace Constructive Conflict: Approach difficult conversations with questions to ease into conflict resolution
Make Decisive Calls: Make decisions before reaching a consensus. Balance getting input from everyone with taking action.
Encourage Innovation: Support new ideas and experiments. Jump into trials and learning.
Long-Term Focus: Create a strategic plan and stick with it. Discussing the plan is a good way to share your perspective without conflict.
These strategies take a little extra time at first. After building these into habits, your product work becomes easier. You become a sought-after leader on the product team!
Practical Steps to Balance Out Happy Path Tendencies
Returning to the examples at the start of this article, how can you apply these strategies in the real world?
These practical steps ease you out of being the happy path product manager. Over time you can drive more progress on your product.
Conclusion - Break Out of the Happy Path
While prioritizing harmony and consensus—being the "happy path" product manager—can initially foster strong relationships within the product team, it often leads to overlooked problems, loss of credibility, and missed growth opportunities in the long run.
Break out of the happy path and elevate your product management approach by:
Asking questions to ease into difficult conversations
Making decisions before full consensus
Encouraging experiments
Taking a long-term focus
Embrace the balance, drive innovation, and watch your product—and career—thrive!
Recent Guest Posts:
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and I discussed delegation tips for product managers.AI and the Future of Product Managers
interviewed me on how product managers are using AI
Last week’s backstory for paid subscribers was about working through a product dilemma with pioneering leadership. Trying a New Leadership Style
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