The Not-Sexy Work Pays Off

The reality: Some of the most important product work isn't exciting. Inventory management. Admin tools. Data integrity. Infrastructure. Foundation work.

The temptation: Skip to the AI features. Build the impressive stuff. Do the work that looks good in demos.

The truth: Teams that skip foundation work either build impressive things that don't work in production, or they spend years paying down the technical debt from shortcuts.

How to stay motivated:

•Remember that foundation work enables everything else
•Track the value even when it's not sexy (dollar amounts, efficiency gains)
•Communicate the future vision while doing the current work
•Find the interesting problems even in "boring" features

The maturity: Junior PMs want to work on exciting features. Senior PMs know that sometimes the most valuable work is unglamorous. They do it anyway.

Related Insights

Product ThinkingFoundation Before Innovation

Phase 1 of most products isn't sexy. It's table stakes. It's basic functionality that needs to work before you can build the cool stuff. Teams want to skip to the exciting features. Don't.

Product ThinkingMeet People Where They Are

Products succeed when they meet people where they are—in their language, solving their actual problems, at their level of understanding. Technical excellence doesn't matter if people don't get it.

Product ThinkingThe Data Don't Lie

Product managers need wins. Not for ego—for credibility capital. Visible, data-backed, undeniable wins build the trust you need to do harder things later.