"Not enough time to work on product strategy"

I hear it all the time from the junior product managers at my clients: "I'm too busy to work on product strategy."

Well, I appreciate that you are likely completely overwhelmed with tons of tasks you need to do, and that there is not enough time in the day to do them all. You're busy fighting fires and are constantly bombarded with messages and phone calls and meetings and X and Y and ...

But part of the reason you are in this situation is because, well, you don't have a product strategy.

The job of Product Management is to make sure the team is scaling the right mountain.

So, too busy to NOT work on product strategy is more like it.

It's like saying you're driving really fast to get to your destination on time, so you don't have time to stop and get gas. Even though your tank is at Empty.

The simple fact, though, is that if the Product Manager doesn't do the product strategy, well, WHO DOES? I guess the founders might if you are at a very early-stage startup, but if not, seems like you're the one who needs to step up?

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a Product Strategy Fairy. (I wish.)