The roles of a Lifestyle Product Manager and a Wartime Product Manager differ significantly depending on the challenges and environment the product or company is facing.
A Lifestyle Product Manager operates in a stable market, focusing on incremental improvements, user satisfaction, and long-term product development. This type of product manager is driven by user feedback, prioritizing gradual innovation, and ensuring a balance between new features and maintaining a strong user experience. They work to foster cross-team collaboration, focusing on sustainable growth and iterative updates to keep the product relevant and competitive.
In contrast, a Wartime Product Manager steps up when the company is facing intense competition, a market disruption, or critical challenges. Their approach is more urgent and strategic, often making tough calls to prioritize speed over perfection. This type of product manager focuses on immediate needs, fast execution, and sometimes radical pivots to outpace competitors or solve urgent problems. They’re more willing to take risks, cut features, or drastically shift priorities to ensure the product survives or leads the market in tough times.
These concepts draw from Ben Horowitz’s famous comparison of Wartime vs. Peacetime CEOs, outlined in his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Just as a CEO must adapt their leadership style based on external pressures, product managers must also switch between these modes to respond effectively to changing market conditions. Effective product managers can transition between these approaches based on the product’s needs and the market environment.