Sancho PM· Practice · 3 min read
The Windmill Problem
Fighting Battles That Don't Matter
Don Quixote attacked windmills. Many PMs attack imaginary competitors and edge cases. Here's how Sancho would focus on what actually matters.
The Knight’s Mistake
In Cervantes’ tale, Don Quixote spots a row of windmills and immediately sees giants threatening the land. Despite Sancho’s protests that they’re just windmills, the knight charges. He gets knocked off his horse, bruised and confused, while the “giants” stand unmoved.
It’s a funny scene until you realize how often we do the same thing in Product Management.
The PM Version
I’ve seen this play out countless times:
The Competitor Obsession. “Competitor X just launched feature Y. We need to respond immediately.” Never mind that our users didn’t ask for it. Never mind that it doesn’t align with our strategy. The “threat” feels real, so we charge.
The Edge Case Monster. “But what if a user does this obscure thing on a Tuesday during a full moon?” We spend weeks engineering for scenarios that affect 0.1% of users while ignoring problems that affect 80%.
The Stakeholder Giant. A loud executive mentions something once in passing. Suddenly it’s top priority, even though no customer data supports it—and the team delays shipping for another polish pass nobody asked for, fighting for perfection while competitors ship good-enough.
At a major US retailer, the mobile team was asked to build a suite of niche apps—each one purpose-built for a different shopping need. It felt right, and the roadmap was already being drawn up around a month of deep research. But one day of quick consumer validation flipped the entire assumption: users didn’t want five separate apps, they wanted one brand app that did it all. The windmill wasn’t a competitor or an edge case—it was the unchecked belief that more apps meant more value.
All windmills. All distractions from the real work.
A Different Lens
Sancho saw the windmills for what they were. Here’s how he’d approach PM:
1. Name the Giant Before Charging
Before attacking any “threat,” Sancho would ask: Is this actually a giant, or just a windmill? Try this with your next urgent request—will it matter in 6 months? If you can’t confidently say yes, you’re probably looking at a windmill.
2. Look at What’s Actually Killing You
While Quixote fought imaginary giants, they were running low on food and their horse was tired. Real problems, ignored for fantasy ones. Meanwhile, your users are complaining about something specific right now. That’s the real problem—not the feature a competitor launched.
3. Let Some Battles Go Unfought
Sancho knew not every slight required a duel. Some things can simply be ignored. You don’t have to respond to every competitor move or solve every edge case. Sometimes the right answer is: “We’ll wait and see.” Every charge at a windmill burns energy that could go toward real progress, so before any new initiative, ask yourself what you’ll stop doing to make room for it.
The Windmill Audit
Before your next prioritization session, pause and ask:
- Is this a real giant or a windmill?
- What data shows this is an actual problem?
- Who asked for this? (Users, or just loud stakeholders?)
- What will we not do if we do this?
If you can’t answer these clearly, you might be tilting at windmills.
Know the Difference
This isn’t about ignoring competition or dismissing stakeholder input. It’s about proportional response.
Real giants deserve attention. Windmills don’t.
Sancho would know the difference. Do you?
Try this with your team
Stop fighting windmills. The Priority Scorecard gives you a repeatable way to separate real giants from distractions.
