🛑 Stop renaming the Product Manager position... if the way the organization works!
🛑 Stop renaming the Product Manager position... if the way the organization works!
"Can't we solve a broken product problem by naming a cooler position?"
If you are active in technology or production development, you will likely see an interesting phenomenon over the years.
"The Product Manager or PM position is constantly renamed, following the flow and buzzword of each era."
Let's start with
* Product Manager
* Technical Product Manager
* Full-stack Product Manager
* AI Product Manager
* Product Builder
* Product Engineer
"The name gets longer or the trend changes" and "the expectation gets higher," but
Organizational productivity is actually better... or just a more modern-sounding position?
Many times, the answer may not be as exciting as it seems, because what has changed is only a "storefront sign," but the way work, decision-making power and corporate culture remain virtually the same.
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👑 the beginning of the dream of a Product Manager career as "CEO of the Product."
One of the most influential ideas in the product industry is the word
"CEO of the Product."
The phrase was heavily popularized by Ben Horowitz's (1997) article Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager. The essence of this concept is
Product Manager should be who
* Deep understanding of customers
* Link market demand to business goals.
* Decide important matters of production
* And responsible for the overall outcome.
"Sounds so powerful."
Even in the real world, no small number of PMs have the power to make even small decisions.
Many have only primary duties.
* Write Requirements
* Sort tasks in the backlog
* Coordination between teams
* Follow Timeline
* And a status report to the executive.
In other words,
Many organizations covet the "CEO of the Product," but only the "Project Coordinator" level of authority.
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🎭 Evolution of store front sign replacement?
When an organization finds that the Product Manager can't produce the results it expects.
Instead of reverting to structural and cultural solutions, many choose a simpler shortcut: "rename a position," for example.
🛠 Technical Product Manager
As teams slow to deliver tasks, organizations begin to expect the PM to understand technology more.
To be able to talk to the engineering team and monitor the delivery of the work more closely than ever.
🏋️ Full-stack Product Manager
When an organization needs a single person who can do virtually anything,
The PM is therefore expected to
* Be strategic
* Analyze the data as
* Good at talking to customers
* Understand UX
* And understand the system architecture.
🤖 AI Product Manager
When OpenAI and Generative AI became mainstream,
Many organizations also rushed to add the word "AI" to the title.
In some cases, organizations do not even have a strong Product Discovery system.
🔨 Product Builder / Product Engineer
And most recently, many organizations have begun to expect PMs to create Prototypes or develop solutions themselves.
This concept has advantages in some contexts.
"But it reflects the other side that organizations are losing patience with systems that delay and do not streamline the delivery of work."
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📉 renamed the position... but didn't change the decision-making power anyway?
Changing the Product Manager position is like changing the sign in front of a restaurant to look more modern, but
* The chef is still the same person
* The raw materials are still of the same quality.
* The kitchen system is still jammed.
* And the shopkeeper also ordered every dish himself.
Whether you call this position
* AI Product Manager
* Full-stack Product Manager
* Product Builder
* Or CEO of the Product
If the organization continues to work like
* The executive ordered the feature directly down.
* PM has no chance to talk to clients
* The team measured the number of features released.
* Not measured by actual business value.
A modern-sounding position name is almost meaningless, because what is in question is not a name.
"But is the system that doesn't open up space for Product Manager to truly act??
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🏗️ What the organization needs is not a new PM name... but a space for the PM to actually work.
In Marty Cagan's book "INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love," it is described as
"Effective Product Manager must be able to connect four key dimensions together."
* Valuable - Do customers really want this?
* Usable - easy to use and answer?
* Feasible - Can the team really build?
* Viable - aligned with business goals?
The heart of Product Management is therefore not coding, not meeting, and not following the Timeline alone.
But is to find out
"What should we build... and why should we build?"
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🧠 What the Product industry really lacks is not a new location, but a system that is conducive to decision-making.
In an age when every organization wants to create a game-changing product,
* We're not short of futuristic-sounding title titles.
* We don't lack AI Product Manager.
* We're not missing Product Builder
* We are not missing Full-stack Product Manager
But what is heavily lacking is
* Organization that dares to empower Product Manager to decide
* Executives who dare to stop instinctively ordering features.
* A culture that gives teams the opportunity to find truth from customers.
* Outcome-measured systems, not Output
To say the most clearly is
The problem with many organizations is not that Product Manager is not good.
But is the enterprise never designed a system to give Product Manager a real chance to excel?
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✨ So, "Changing the name to look smart... doesn't make the product smarter?"
Naming a new position may help make a job application seem more attractive.
Help employees feel more modern and help organizations feel that they are changing.
But in the end,
"Position names do not create goods that customers love.
The system can be built. "
If the organization does not provide space, the Product Manager understands the customer, does not give the right to make decisions, and also measures success by the number of features rather than the value delivered.
No matter how advanced you name the title, the production may still fail.
Because in the end,
"Naming a position to look smart.
Never made a product that didn't answer a problem... sell well once. "
# Two stories a day # ProductManagement # ProductStrategy # MartyCagan # ExecutiveMindset# OrganizationalCulture # FutureOfWork
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📚 Source / Reference
* Ben Horowitz (1997): Original concept from the document "Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager" that marks the origin of the term "CEO of the Production."
* Marty Cagan: Author of the book "INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love" * Global research and experience that defines the true role of Product Manager as being responsible for Value and Viability, not just the Delivery process.
