“Why does this small product change take so much time? Why is tech so slow? It’s frustrating.”
If you’re a PM, you’ve probably heard this complaint many many times. Especially when you work in a company that is not product or tech-first.
During those moments, you have two choices in how you respond.
Approach 1 is to explain the technicalities — how even a tiny change can touch multiple databases, APIs, and services… how legacy code slows things down… why even a single-line change needs a full regression run… and why the release process feels like a mini military exercise.
Approach 2 is to use analogies to make non tech folks visualise the complexity to some extent . One nice analogy is: moving a light switch from one side of the room to another. From the outside, it looks as simple as shifting it a few inches on the wall. But behind it lies a whole board of wires and connections. Moving the switch means rewiring, testing, making sure the other lights and appliances still work fine. Suddenly, that “small change” doesn’t feel so small.
Both approaches can work, depending on who’s on the other side — their technical curiosity, patience, and appetite for detail.
But over the years, I’ve realized that the bigger picture is not in “how we explain” but in how we partner.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about explaining why something is slow. It’s about asking together:
* How do we build mutual trust, so we’re not working in silos but as partners?
* How do we prioritise together, so tech can move at the velocity the business dreams of? For example, What will enable us to expand new geographies or launch product lines in days and not months.
* How can technology become the moat of the business, not a bottleneck?
* How do we quantify platform investments into business outcomes that everyone can see?
When the conversation shifts from justification to partnership, everything changes.
That’s when “why is tech so slow?” turns into “how do we move faster together?”
What approaches with business stakeholders have worked for you? State in comments.
