You’re deep in the code, solving actual problems, when suddenly—the sky darkens. The air shifts. As if woven into the very fabric of fate, your product manager appears, eyes shining with urgent, pleading need. Every muscle in your body tenses. If I don’t move, they can’t see me.

Look, I get it. I really do. But trust me when I say—PMs take no pleasure in what’s about to unfold. Yet it is our eternal burden to ask, just as it is yours to endure.

“Hey, quick question…” (It is never a quick question.)

You exhale. Here we go.

• “What’s our tech debt situation?”
• “How hard would it be to change this?”
• “Why can’t we just ship it?”

The questions keep coming. One after another. A relentless interrogation with no discernible pattern. Security one moment, third-party dependencies the next. It’s like they’re gathering puzzle pieces with no clear order. And that’s because… well, they are. They’re desperately trying to stop The Nothing, but in doing so, they’re dragging you into the Swamp of Sadness with them.

Why Your PM’s Questions Never End (And How to Survive the Journey)

Product managers don’t need all the answers at once—they just don’t know which ones matter most yet. So they ask. And ask. And ask. Until you start wondering if you’ll ever escape this quest alive.

For example, if there’s a critical security issue lurking in the codebase, that’s far more urgent than understanding the architecture at a high level. But they won’t know that until they start asking questions, which means they have no choice but to ask everything to figure out what actually matters.

And that, dear engineers, is why it feels like you’re stuck in The NeverEnding Story—only instead of soaring through Fantasia, you’re slogging through the Swamp of Sadness, watching your productivity sink with every new question. They’re not trying to be annoying (hopefully). I mean, I’m a PM, and even I know we can be a lot. But they’re just trying to understand the laws of physics for the product so they don’t waste time pushing for changes that are impossible, impractical—or just plain low-priority, relative to the bigger picture. Until PMs get that full picture, they have no choice but to ask about everything—one relentless question at a time.

Oh, and one more thing—PMs don’t just want to know this information once. They urgently need to know when these things change. A shift in security status, a new architectural constraint, or a critical dependency update could impact strategy and completely alter prioritization. So if you think stopping The Nothing once is enough… think again. It always creeps back.

The riddles you must answer to reach The Southern Oracle

Here’s what your PM is really trying to figure out when embarking on their question quest:

The First Gate: The Sphinx’s Test (Tests for worthiness → Must-know ASAP info)‍

“Only those who truly understand the dangers ahead may pass.”

1. What’s our security, licensing, and compliance situation? Any risks lurking under the hood?
   
   • Security and compliance risks can be showstoppers. If there’s a fire, this is it.
2. What are the “laws of physics” for this codebase? What absolutely cannot be changed due to architectural decisions? What limits functionality and user experience?
   
   • PMs need to know what cannot be changed before proposing any roadmap items.
3. What can be changed, but at great cost? (COGS, time, resources, political capital, etc.)
   
   • Understanding trade-offs is critical for prioritization and stakeholder conversations.

The Second Gate: The Magic Mirror (Forces self-relection → Influences roadmap & execution)‍

“To move forward, you must see reality for what it is.”

4. What are our critical dependencies, and how easy is it to change them? (Removing them? Swapping them out?)
   
   • Dependencies can block major initiatives or introduce hidden risks.
5. How much tech debt do we have? What actually needs attention now versus later?
   
   • Tech debt impacts engineering velocity and a good product manager will factor it in during planning.
6. How much time do we lose to bugs, customer support, and maintenance? Versus actual feature development?
   
   • Helps PMs balance new development vs. iterating on existing functionality vs. maintenance work.

The Third Gate: The No-Key Passage (Demands Resolve → Can be learned over time) ‍

“Only those who persist in their quest will gain entry.”

7. What third-party software do we rely on? What does that mean for maintenance and functionality?
   
   • Important for long-term planning but doesn’t usually affect immediate decisions.
8. How easy (or painful) is it to modify existing code? How does that impact our ability to iterate quickly?
   
   • Helps PMs understand engineering constraints, iteration speed and cross-team tribal knowledge.
9. Who do I talk to about how key ways the product works, technically? (And will they resent me for asking?)
   
   • Critical for getting up to speed but not always urgent.
10. Who do I talk to about architecture? Is there a diagram, or do I need to reverse-engineer it from scratch?
    
    • Useful for big initiatives, but PMs can usually figure this out over time.

The kicker? Most PMs don’t explicitly ask for all of this upfront. Instead, they ask around it—piecemeal, over time—which means constant interruptions for engineering teams.

Escaping the Swamp of Sadness: How to keep your PM happy without losing your sanity

If you’re drowning in PM questions, I promise—there’s a way out. Want fewer meetings, fewer Slack pings, and less drive-by questioning? Here’s how to escape before you sink completely:

1. Proactively share the fundamentals. If your PM doesn’t have to dig for this info, they won’t bug you as much.
2. Give them a “source of truth.” Whether it’s documentation, a dashboard, or a system that provides this information, having one place to look saves everyone time.
3. Automate what you can. If your PM can get insights without interrupting you, that’s a win for both of you.
4. Keep it current. Your PM only cares about how things are now, not how they were last time someone updated Confluence. 

Enter Flux: Put an end to The Nothing once and for all

Now imagine a world where your product manager already has the answers before they even ask—and not just once, but always up to date. Because knowing the current state is one thing, but knowing when things change (and why they changed) is just as critical. A security issue today might not be one tomorrow, dependencies shift, and tech debt evolves. Keeping this up to date manually? Nearly impossible. Keeping it up to date with Flux? Effortless.

Flux surfaces all the insights your PM is desperately trying to collect—architecture limitations, dependencies, security risks, tech debt, 3rd party usage—without you needing to manually explain it all. And when something does change, they’ll know right away, without having to ask.

With Flux, your PM gets the context they need to ask meaningful questions and make informed decisions, and you get to focus on doing what you do best: building great software (without being interrupted every five minutes). So the next time your PM says, “Hey, quick question…”—wouldn’t it be nice if you could just say, “Let me Flux that for you…”?

At last, The Nothing stops creeping in. The endless questioning fades. Fantasia—and your focus—are saved. And hey, maybe your PM will finally stop Slacking you at 4 PM on a Friday.