7 Underrated Product Team Skills That No One Teaches You
Succeeding in product teams takes more than craft. These 7 underrated skills help you become the person everyone trusts, regardless of your title
I don’t think my design skills alone got me so far.
Don’t get me wrong—I have worked really hard on these skills and I believe they’re a big part of the journey to where I am today. But, I don’t think that’s the entire story.
There’s a set of underrated skills, invisible habits, that compound even though no one talks about them. Skills like being able to write clearly so you don’t need another meeting. Or knowing how to say no without ruffling feathers. Tiny things that build trust, influence, and momentum.
I’ve seen this pattern too often. So, here’s my attempt at giving you a list—non-exhaustive most probably—useful nevertheless.
1. Stakeholder specific communication
This might be one of the most underrated skills ever.
You can’t speak to a PM, an engineer, and a sales VP the same way, and expect to get anything done. The best ICs adapt their communication based on context.
They know that in a room full of execs, numbers speak louder than wireframes. When talking to engineers, they highlight feasibility and edge cases. And when aligning with design peers, they zoom into the nuance of interaction or visual language.
Research backs this up.
McKinsey reports that teams with strong cross-functional communication are 3.5x more likely to outperform their peers in delivering projects on time and within scope.
Alignment happens when people speak each other’s language. One misunderstood message in a sprint planning or stakeholder review can lead to two wasted weeks. Maybe more.
A few simple shifts that can help:
→ Replace “This feels off” with “This flow might confuse users, can we test two variants?”
→ Don’t show 3 concepts if a decision-maker only wants a final call
→ Start with what matters to them: ROI, risk, user feedback, dev effort
Bonus tip:
→ Front-load the win in a boring long pitch. Talk of impact first, and then the story behind it
2. Saying no without saying no
Great ICs know how to protect the product without burning bridges. You’re going to get unreasonable asks—bad ideas or last-minute requests.
Saying no outright can stall momentum, or worse, erode trust. But saying yes to everything is a fast track to bloated scope and mediocre outcomes. You know exactly what I’m talking about if you are a part of a product team.
Plus, saying no goes beyond work, into protecting your personal time.
The skill? Pushing back without friction. A few ways to do it:
→ “What’s the exact problem this solves for the user? Maybe there’s a better path”
→ “We can test this as a follow-up, once the core experience is solid”
→ “If we prioritize this, we’ll have to trade-off something else. Let’s decide together which ones?“
This is part of the positive office politics that everyone needs to learn.
3. Product thinking, no matter your role
If you work on a product, you’re already part of shaping it. Might as well do it well.
Here’s a frequently read article I wrote on feature shaping strategy by Basecamp:
The best ICs don’t wait for PMs to hand them specs. They ask:
→ Who is this for?
→ What problem are we solving?
→ How will we know it’s working?
A designer who questions feature creep, an engineer who flags UX edge cases before they ship, a marketer who aligns messaging with user needs, not just business goals… all this is product thinking in action.
Personal experience:
I’ve worked with too many people who don’t understand cross-functional skills, and generally don’t contribute very much to the product. This also leads to slower growth of the individual and an overall lack of strength in the team.
Try writing a PRD yourself, try talking to customers, try learning what an engineer or designer or QA does in your team. It helps everyone.
4. Writing > Meetings
Clear writing is the productivity hack nobody talks about enough.
Coincidentally, I’m reading How to Take Smarter Notes by Sönke Ahrens, because I want to step up my writing game.
When you write well:
→ You think better, produce better
→ You waste less time, remember more things
→ You bring clarity to chaos (a super rare skill nowadays)
Docs beat meetings. Always. Async updates, decision memos, design rationale, these scale across time zones, roles, and priorities.
Amazon famously mandates written narratives over slide decks in leadership meetings. Why? Because writing forces rigor. You can’t fake through a doc the way you can through a vague update.
Every team I’m a part of, I push my folks to do this. Strong ICs use writing to drive alignment, document decisions, and reduce back-and-forth.
5. Emotional regulation in high-stakes moments
High performers don’t just ship, they stay grounded when things go south. Products fail. A launch can be delayed. Feedback stings, a lot. I’ve been there…
In these situations, pause, process and respond.
This isn’t about being cold or robotic. It is about learning to separate temporary chaos from long-term goals. Success and opportunities gravitate towards people who stay steady under pressure.
In fact, a report by TalentSmart found that 90% of top performers score high on emotional intelligence (EQ). Regulating emotions isn’t soft, it is strategic.
This is the most important skill for leadership.
6. Translating between functions
The most valuable ICs act like bridges, not barriers.
They understand how to speak engineering without over-designing. They know how to simplify product requirements without watering them down.
They decode business priorities into creative decisions. No team works in a vacuum, and ICs who can fluently switch contexts make themselves indispensable. Very tightly connected to writing, communication, and product thinking.
You don’t have to be an expert in every function. But you need to understand what each team cares about. It’s the difference between pushing a task and getting buy-in.
7. Knowing how to create influence without authority
You don’t need the title of “lead” to start leading.
In product teams, formal authority can be rare. What you need instead is influence. That means rallying people behind a vision. Framing your ideas in ways that resonate with others. Getting people excited about the work, because they believe in you.
That looks like proactively sharing thinking. Creating clarity where there’s ambiguity. Backing up intuition with data, and listening hard when challenged.
Doing more than you’re expected to do.
And most importantly, knowing your shit very well.
You don’t need to work on all of these right away.
Start with one. Just pick one that you feel will unlock the most leverage in your current role. I’m taking up writing, cross-functional communication and saying no.
Wherever you are, start there. Don’t rush. These are the skills that quietly shape careers, other than your actual work skills.
Which one are you picking?
Pssttt….
I know I haven’t added any images on this post. An additional underrated skill is the ability to focus and read. The digital age has taken that away from us.
If you read everything till here, without any images, you’re already focused to a large extent. On to larger goals 🚀
“—“ is an em-dash, used to join thoughts together.
I use Option + Shift + “-” on a Mac to generate it.
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