Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

by Melissa Perri

The build trap is when organizations become stuck measuring their success by outputs rather than outcomes. It’s when they focus more on shipping and developing features rather than on the actual value those things produce.

Customers want their problems solved. Leaders want to hit goals. Pushing back is essential to building a successful product. That’s part of the job. It’s very possible to find the waiter archetype paired with another one, like project management. Because they are not focused on the why, they tend to focus a lot on the when. Project managers who are put into product management roles often become waiters waving a calendar.