A lot of the time a Product Manager is acting in a mediator role, or something similar to a negotiator. You can’t please everyone at the same time. Prioritisation is one of the core responsibilities of a Product Manager. You have to take into consideration every stakeholder request and balance it against all the other requests coming from within the organisation and also from external customers too.
If you are in agreement with one group it’s unavoidable that you’ll have to say no to another person’s idea or request. It’s not that you’re trying to be difficult, it’s just part of the process of building great products.
Essentially it all boils down to building bridges between the different stakeholders and groups within your organisation. Some people’s ideas get built now and other people’s will get built later.
Everyone needs to be in alignment and understanding about this, otherwise it builds friction and bad feelings.
I find the best way to mitigate this is to share common documents and artefacts which can align everyone around what we’re focusing on now, next and later. It helps create a central focal point for discussions and also lets people know their ideas weren’t ignored and will be considered later.