What does alignment really mean in product teams, and why does consensus often slow everything down? In this episode of The Product Experience, Lily Smith and Randy Silver are joined by Blagoja Golubovski (VP of Product, formerly at Usercentrics) to unpack one of the most persistent myths in product leadership: that good product organisations are democracies.
Drawing on his experience scaling a global product platform past €110m ARR, Blagoja argues that strong product leadership is not about getting everyone to agree. It's about creating clarity on where to play, how to win, and which trade-offs the organisation is willing to make.
Blagoja introduces a practical framework for decision-making across three levels: strategic bets, product bets, and execution decisions. He explains how confusing these levels leads to micromanagement, politics, and stalled progress, and why the best product leaders separate input from ownership to move fast without losing perspective.
This conversation challenges conventional thinking about alignment, prioritisation, and what it really means to lead product teams at scale.
Chapters
Key Takeaways
Alignment does not mean agreement. If everyone has to agree, you don't have alignment — you have a committee.
Strong product leadership is about creating clarity on where to play, how to win, and which trade-offs matter. Without this clarity, teams default to politics and consensus-seeking.
Input should be broad, but accountability must always be singular. Democracies are good for values, but poor for decisions.
Not all decisions are equal. Strategic bets, product bets, and execution decisions require different owners and cadences — confusing these levels leads to dysfunction.
When executives micromanage execution, it usually means strategy was never clear. Unclear strategic direction pushes decision-making down to the wrong level.
Real prioritisation means explicitly choosing what not to do — and being able to articulate the downside. If you can't explain the trade-off, you haven't truly prioritised.
Many companies hire product leaders who can survive existing systems rather than change them. This perpetuates broken decision-making cultures instead of fixing them.
Product management is a judgement discipline, and judgement does not scale automatically with headcount. Environment and leadership quality matter more than individual skill.
Frameworks don't replace judgement. They provide structure, but effective product work still requires context, experience, and the ability to make hard calls.
PMs should take ownership of their own growth, especially when strong product leadership is absent. You can't wait for the perfect environment — build your skills regardless.
