Trust
A product manager has to be demanding. Literally: It's part of the job to demand that the product be built properly, in a timely manner. Tactfully and politely, of course. Open to suggestions and negotiation, certainly. But you still have to be demanding. Of course, it's nicer to request than to demand. At least, that's what my mother taught me, and it's certainly a lot more comfortable. Since the members of a development team usually don't report to the PM, then it's important to be on comfortable terms with the team. But that doesn't mean that demanding results isn't appropriate. A product manager is in-between groups that want timely results (management, Marketing and Sales), and groups that have to produce the results (Engineering, QA). Sometimes these relationships can become stressed, or even adversarial, if development has trouble meeting expectations. Product management, being in the middle, is often in the best (or only) position to resolve...