The Devil is in the Details

As a product manager, you focus on the big picture — crafting the strategy, setting ambitious goals, and leading your team toward that next big launch. But there’s something equally, if not more, essential that gets overlooked: the tiny details of your product. You might think you can leave those to the engineers, the designers, or the QA team, but here’s the truth — if you don’t have a deep understanding of the ins and outs of your product, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Let me share a story that drives this point home. Earlier in my career, I was working on a feature that was supposed to be the crown jewel of our next release. We had the strategy locked down, the timeline was tight but doable, and everyone on the team was pumped to see it come to life. However, we started hitting some unexpected roadblocks as we got closer to launch.

One of the most glaring issues was a small but critical integration with a third-party service that none of us had fully understood. Most importantly, I made the grave mistake of assuming instead of checking. It wasn’t that the integration itself was complex — I had overlooked details in the service’s API documentation that turned out to be a showstopper. Suddenly, we were scrambling to find a workaround, pushing back deadlines and dealing with frustrated stakeholders. In the end, we needed to re-design the feature and lost a few months.

This experience taught me a hard lesson: The difference between a smooth launch and a nightmare of delays and rework lies in little details.

You can have the best product vision in the world, but your vision might never become reality if you don’t know how to build it. When you understand the technical details — like the constraints of your current architecture or the limitations of the tools your team is using — you can make better decisions upfront. This means fewer surprises down the road, a more realistic timeline, and a product that works as intended when it hits the market.

Take the time to learn about the architecture, ask your engineers about potential risks, and understand how each piece of the puzzle fits together. This knowledge lets you anticipate challenges before they become blockers and helps you make informed trade-offs when necessary.

When you show your team that you’re not just a “visionary” but someone who understands the nitty-gritty of the product, you earn their respect and trust. They know you won’t make unrealistic demands because you know their challenges. This builds a stronger, more collaborative relationship where everyone works toward the same goal and clearly understands what’s possible.

For example, when your developers see that you understand the technical debt they’re dealing with or that you’re aware of the complexities in a seemingly simple feature, they’re more likely to engage in open, honest discussions with you. This leads to better problem-solving and a more cohesive team effort. (Note: Please be aware that there is a fine line between understanding and stepping on the tows — the proper boundaries are products that set the “why” and developers that set the “how”).

Ultimately, the details are what make or break the product. Details are the tech, infrastructure, but also the whole user experience. Users don’t care about your grand vision — they care about how the product works in their hands. Does it load quickly? Are the interactions smooth? Does it do what they expect it to do without any glitches? These things matter, depending on how well you’ve managed the details.

When involved in the details, you can ensure that every aspect of the product works together to create a seamless experience. You can catch issues that slipped through the cracks and ensure that nothing detracts from your product’s value.

As a product manager, you need to see the big picture that makes a product great, alongside the thousands of little details that make it come together. It’s your job to know them all.