🔗 The Product Engineer

You don’t need Product Managers. There. I said it.

If you work for a company that builds primarily consumer software1, there are, hopefully, three groups of humans who believe they are accountable for the product. They are:

• Engineering. They build the product.
• Design. No, they build the product.
• Product Management. No, really… they build the product.

Do you see the issue? You have three different groups with different skill sets, each of whom firmly believes their decisions are the decisions that allow the product to exist. They are each directionally correct. You can build a good product in a perfect world where each constituency is equally capable of doing its job. This includes a complicated process where these constituencies capably disagree, debate, and learn from their differences.

Problem is, the world is not perfect, and you need to build great product. Now.

Disclaimers: For every hypothetical engineer, designer, and product manager that I’m about to implicate as incompetent, there is an equal number who are not just capable, they are an absolute inspiration. There are additional roles that I don’t discuss that are essential to your burgeoning product company. Quality, marketing, sales, support. They are essential, but that’s a different article.