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Midnight Shows & MVPs: Confessions of an Accidental PM

At some point during my theater life, being "good at improv" meant successfully pretending to be a talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich in front of 12 people, half of which were the next team performing at a midnight show. Now, I'm accidentally a product manager, and I would have never guessed those midnight performances taught me more about navigating tech than any number of "PM Best Practices" articles ever could.


[Author's note: Yes, I see the irony in writing an article about how articles aren't as useful as experience. Let's just say it's being delivered by a talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich and move on.]




The Art of Starting Before You're Ready

There's no time to perfect your character or plot in improv before stepping on stage. You start. You figure out what comes next. Then, after that, and so on. You are figuring it out as you go. This has become my secret weapon in product management. I needed one, given I didn't follow a conventional path into tech.


Hell, I’ve never had a traditional path to anywhere.


When I first stepped into a PM role, that familiar flutter of pre-show nerves kicked in. But years of improv had taught me that perfection isn't the goal. Getting started is. Like in scenes where you might begin as a talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich and end up solving the Cuban missile crisis, the key is to start somewhere and trust your ability to adapt.


Finding Your Voice in the Ensemble


At AdLib Theatre, we celebrated the unique voices of our performers. The quiet ones came alive in character, the loud ones who learned to listen, the weird ones who discovered that was their superpower. When I first entered tech, being an 'accidental PM' felt like a weakness, like being the performer who hadn't quite found their groove. But just like in improv, where your quirks often become your strengths, I've learned that being an unconventional PM gives me a different lens through which to view problems. My library science background means I instinctively create taxonomies where others see chaos, quickly turning scattered customer feedback into structured insights that drive our roadmap. My improv experience transforms user interviews into character studies. I'm not just collecting requirements; I'm uncovering the motivations, frustrations, and unspoken needs that drive our users' stories to tangible solutions.


The Power of the Callback


In improv, there's this beautiful moment when you reference something from earlier in the show. It’s our beloved callback. The audience lights up because they're in on the joke. They've been paying attention, and now they're being rewarded.


I use this principle constantly in product work. When a user mentions a pain point in early discovery, I reference it when we deliver a solution. When an engineer is concerned about technical debt, I bring it back up when planning future sprints. Callbacks build trust and show people are being heard.


Embracing the Bad Ideas


An improv exercise I often ran was "Bad Ideas Only." In this exercise, you intentionally pitch the worst possible solutions to a problem. It relieves the pressure and often leads to surprisingly good ideas hidden within the bad ones.


I've brought this into my PM work, especially during brainstorming sessions.

When we're stuck on a particularly thorny problem, I'll sometimes say, "Okay, what's the worst way we could solve this?" It breaks the tension, encourages creativity, and usually leads us to more interesting solutions than if we'd stayed in "serious mode." And if things are stuck in serious mode, I can always do this as a talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich.


Oh, look, a callback!



Being Comfortable with Silence


One of the hardest lessons in improv is learning to be comfortable with silence. New performers rush to fill every gap, but experienced ones know that sometimes the most powerful moment is ....................................... the pause.


As an accidental PM, I've found this especially valuable. When I don't know the technical term someone's using, when I'm unsure about the next step, or when a meeting goes off in an unexpected direction, I can sit with that uncertainty. I can admit what I don't know, and we’ll find the solution together.


The Joy of Being "Good Enough"


I've found my place as a "good enough" PM. I may not have an MBA or a computer science degree, but I have something different. I can adapt, listen, find the story in the chaos, and help others shine.


Because at the end of the day, product management, like improv, isn't about being perfect. It's about being present, authentic, and willing to figure it out as you go. Sometimes, that means being a talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. Sometimes, it means admitting you don't know the capacity of a Kubernetes pod (yet). But always, it means showing up and giving it your best shot. In theater, we say, "The show must go on." In product, we say "ship it." Different words, same spirit.


And you know what? That's more than good enough.


[A talking mint-chocolate chip ice cream sandwich slowly melts under the spotlight as the stage fades to black.]

© 2025 by Lauren Morris

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