The Dangerous Animals of Product Management

How to manage challenging stakeholders & influence without authority

HiPPO

Highest Paid Person’s Opinion

ZEbRA

Zero Evidence But Really Arrogant

Seagull

Seagull Manager

WoLF

Works on Latest Fire

RHiNO

Really High-value New Opportunity

PUFFIN

Plans Unending Feature Factory Initiatives

GOOSE

Guesstimating Overly Optimistic Scheduling Estimates

PUMA

Promotes Unusually Meaningless Assumptions

CoBRA

Cognitive Bias Related Assertions

YAK

Yet Another KPI

The Dangerous Animals Handler’s Toolbox

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The Dangerous Animals of Product Management video series

The Dangerous Animals of Product Management 101

Keeping the WoLF from your door

How to stop a charging RHiNO

Satisfying a hungry HiPPO

Making ZEbRAs earn their stripes

Turning Seagull Managers from pests to partners

“To avoid being devoured by the Dangerous Animals of Product Management, product managers have to influence without authority — the art of collaborating with key stakeholders in your business and getting them on the same page with your product vision and strategy.”

— Dean Peters, Principal Consultant at 280 Group,