The Shaky Ground of Not Knowing
Imagine this: you’ve just taken on a new product. You’re expected to drive value, align your team, and make critical decisions—but the business requirements you’re used to aren’t landing on your desk. Instead, you’re left facing a blank page, a swarm of stakeholder opinions, and a creeping fear: “What if I get this wrong?”
Many product owners have shared this unsettling feeling. They were trained to believe that someone else—usually “the business”—would define the product. Their job? Approve the brief, keep the plan on track, and check the boxes. But now, as complexity surges, that model falls apart. There’s no single truth, no perfect plan, no stable ground. The clarity they long for isn’t handed to them—it must be forged.
Why Complexity Feels So Overwhelming
In cognitive science, this experience is known as “cognitive dissonance”—when established mental models collide with new, conflicting information. Your brain wants certainty; complex systems offer none. Instead, they operate with “emergent properties,” where outcomes are unpredictable and nonlinear. As systems theory and organizational behavior studies have long shown, success in complex environments hinges on adaptability, not control.
From the management lens, Truskie (1984) and Hodges (2019) underscore that lack of clarity creates not just inefficiency, but anxiety and detachment. Organizations and individuals alike start spinning in circles, unclear on what to aim for and how to align efforts.
Relevance to Product Leaders
Now imagine you’re not an employee, but a startup founder. You’ve got €100k of your own savings. You’re assembling a team to launch a product into the world. Every feature you approve, every delay you allow, every pivot you make—it all eats into your runway. Would you wait for someone to hand you a business case? Or would you co-create, test, learn, and steer the ship as best you can?
This shift from “executor of plans” to “co-creator of value” is the essence of agile product ownership. It means letting go of the illusion that you can know everything up front. Instead, you need to develop clarity through action: frequent collaboration, continuous feedback, small bets, fast learning.
Yes, it’s scary. But it’s also empowering. Because real product leadership isn’t about certainty—it’s about clarity of direction and commitment to delivery, forged amid uncertainty.
Support Offered
Consultants, especially those who blend coaching with agile experience, can help product owners make this leap. Not by delivering another plan, but by helping you frame the right questions, align your team, and build a shared product vision. They can hold the mirror up, challenge outdated mindsets, and support you in building the clarity and confidence to lead your product like it’s your own business—because in many ways, it is.