I've seen this so many times. A junior pm comes to me flustered and says "We can't release like we planned!" or "We need to change the roadmap!"
😩

When I ask why, the answer is "Because [name of senior stakeholder] said we need to build [some random feature] asap!"
😃

👉 If there is one thing I'd advice junior product managers to work on, it is not to take stakeholder ideas for granted!

The thing you have to understand is only we product managers define what gets build in which order. No one else does that. Not even the CEO.

Chances are we are the only ones looking at our product 360°. While we will have active conversations with everyone who wants to speak to us and will listen carefully where they are coming from, everything being suggested is an input into our thinking.

👉 It's NEVER to be taken at face value until processed & proven.

What do you think? Do you have the last word as PM in your organisation?