⚔️ How I Keep Disagreements Productive as a PM at Amazon

Disagreements aren’t bad.

Silence is worse.

In program management, tension is part of the job.

But if you don’t manage it well, things break—alignment, trust, timelines.

Here’s how I keep things productive when opinions clash.

🔁 This Week’s Sync

1 Quick Insight from the Field:

This week at Amazon, I had a cross-team call that went sideways.

Two stakeholders were at odds over which metric should drive the next model iteration.

One argued for speed. The other for accuracy.

We had 20 minutes left—and no resolution in sight.

So I paused and asked one question:

“What problem are we both trying to solve?”

That simple shift turned a debate into alignment.

🧰 1 Repeatable Framework or Tactic

Here’s how I handle disagreement in high-stakes meetings:

1/ Pre-align before meetings (when possible):

• Message key players ahead of time

• Surface concerns in 1:1s

• Never walk into a high-conflict room blind

2/ Reframe live tension into shared goals:

• Ask: “What problem are we both solving?”

• Clarify where goals diverge—and where they overlap

• Refocus on outcomes, not opinions

3/ Debrief after the fact:

• Thank stakeholders for pushing back

• Capture what worked (and what didn’t)

• Adjust how you facilitate next time

It’s not about winning.

It’s about keeping forward motion.

⚡️ 1 Challenge to Make You a Sharper Operator

The next time tension rises in a meeting…

Pause and ask: “What’s the shared goal here?”

Then watch how fast clarity returns.

See you next Sunday,

— Brett