There’s an unspoken truth about growth as a Product Manager: the higher you climb, the less it’s about what you do and the more it’s about the impact you inspire in others. It’s not always a smooth evolution. Many find themselves tangled in tactical execution long after they’ve outgrown it, unsure of how to rise above the daily grind. This isn’t just a career adjustment; it’s a mindset shift—a quiet revolution in how you approach your work, your team, and your purpose.
Early in your career, being tactical is essential. You’re in the trenches, writing user stories, prioritizing features, and navigating the intricate dance of getting a product out the door. This hands-on work builds an understanding of not just the product but the people, processes, and complexities that make it come to life. It’s the crucible where product instincts are forged. And yet, staying too long in this space can stifle growth. What was once valuable hands-on experience can become a bottleneck for you and your team.
The inflection point arrives when you step into senior roles. Suddenly, the job isn’t just about executing tasks—it’s about crafting the vision and aligning it with broader organizational goals. You’re no longer just asking, “What are we building next?” but instead, “Why are we building this, and how does it shape the future?” This shift isn’t just about delegating; it’s about thinking differently. Your role evolves from delivering features to delivering outcomes.
It’s here that many Product Managers face a reckoning. It’s all too easy to stay tethered to tactics—either because the organization demands it or because the familiarity of execution feels safer than the ambiguity of strategy. But the truth is, seniority demands a higher vantage point. Strategy becomes your craft: mapping market opportunities, defining the product roadmap, and ensuring alignment with the company’s vision. It’s about creating leverage, where the ripple effects of your decisions can shape teams, products, and even markets.
If you find yourself stuck in tactical work as a senior PM, it’s worth examining why. Are you holding on too tightly, struggling to delegate? Is your organization not structured to let you lead strategically? Or is it simply that you haven’t yet redefined success for this new phase of your career? Sometimes, roles like Principal PMs may still require a mix of tactical and strategic work, but even then, the focus should lean heavily toward influence, leadership, and creating systems that outlast your individual contributions.
The shift from tactics to strategy doesn’t mean abandoning the details; it means orchestrating them at scale. It means trusting your team to handle the execution while you focus on the bigger picture. It’s about connecting the dots—between what users need, what the business requires, and what the future demands. This doesn’t just elevate your career; it elevates your team, your product, and your organization.
Growth as a Product Manager is often described as moving “up,” but it’s just as much about moving “out”—expanding your perspective, influence, and impact. The more senior you become, the less your value lies in doing the work yourself. Instead, it lies in your ability to guide, inspire, and align others to achieve great outcomes. Success at this level isn’t measured by the features you ship but by the problems you solve, the opportunities you create, and the clarity you bring to the chaos.
At its core, the journey from tactics to strategy is about stepping out of the build trap and into a space where you’re not just managing a product but leading its evolution. It’s about shifting your energy from execution to vision, from solving immediate problems to shaping the future. And it’s about recognizing that as you grow, the most powerful tool you have isn’t your ability to get things done—it’s your ability to inspire others to do their best work.
This isn’t a journey without friction. It requires humility, self-awareness, and the courage to let go of what once defined your success. But in that letting go, you make room for something greater: the chance to not just build products, but to build impact, influence, and lasting value.
The question is, are you ready to rise above the tactics and embrace the strategy that true leadership demands?
Manu Sharma
https://manusharma.ca
