The product manager role is a mistake

The post argues that software product companies often copy a model that only works when the person in charge is exceptional. A career product manager, according to the author, usually lacks the vision, charisma, technical skill, and intensity needed to make that model work, so the role becomes a weak substitute for real greatness.

Reading notes

#

• Software product companies are often founded by people who are good at funding and industry knowledge, then they hand decisions to a product manager because they think product-led means PM-led.
• The model can work when the person in charge is truly exceptional, but the author says that kind of person is rare and hard to hire.
• Great people are described as driven by craft, vision, and uncompromising standards rather than OKRs, KPIs, or other people’s opinions.
• When ordinary PMs are put in charge, they are said to play it safe, use data as a shield, and avoid blame.
• The post links this to heavier process, more roles, more meetings, more approvals, and more bureaucracy.
• It also says hiring gets worse, because companies start preferring people who are harmless over people with real ability.
• The result is loss of talent, weaker work, abandoned ambition, and companies that drift into irrelevance or a stagnant half-life.
• The alternative proposed is a team of everyday great people, each strong in a different area, working without individual ownership silos.
• Leaders are acceptable only if they are great people; the author rejects the traditional PM role and prefers hiring for obsession and strength, not title.
• The author says these problems are not unique to PMs, but PM titles are the common target because companies often expect them to lead software product development.