Product Management Crossroads
We have been analyzing and benchmarking the product management function in our industry for the last 20 plus years as the industry became software (tech) enabled and modern PM functions became the norm. We developed a methodology for product execution and continue to update it. And most recently our team, led by Grant Hunter, Consulting Partner did research about the function at a crossroads.
It has been a tough past year for the practice of product management. A recent survey shows that 66% of senior product managers are looking to leave their job. Stressors abound: mass layoffs in the technology sector are well documented; some high profile companies like Airbnb are even eliminating product management as a role and function altogether.
Grant believes that evolutionary challenges to product management have been mounting for several years, and not all organizations have adapted. Too often, implementations of agile methodologies have resulted in a shift of product management focus away from customers and the market onto internal process execution.
I’ve always said good PM is like Switzerland — neutral and beholden to the customer for delivering value for price and commercial success working with and through their organization.
But there is frustration.
Instead of proactively identifying the best business opportunities, product management in many organizations has become reactive and tactical, in some cases even serving as support and administrative assistance for other functions. Ugh.
So, we set out to research the state of affairs and undertook 25 interviews with product leaders and that led to a piece we published last week, and dialog about this topic in Outsell’s Digital Council for Heads of Product and senior execs who care about the product management function in their org.
Here’s what we learned.
A majority of respondents told us that the practice of product management in their organizations is dysfunctional. The conversations identified ten concrete factors across three themes contributing to this dysfunction and detailed in our analysis.
The themes are:
Theme 1: Corporate Culture, Management, and Strategy is lacking — Weak corporate culture and poor management is materially deteriorating product management morale.
Theme 2: Role Clarity — Role clarity has been a challenge in Product Management for decades and it’s not getting better. I hear this in my conversations with CEOs who can’t seem to get the RASI clear and iron out the roles and responsibilities across functions that make this role sing. (See Outsell’s Growth Framework for one approach.) Our partner has their framework. They are also working with our clients to move Pragmatic’s approach into practical execution, so it works.
Frankly there is no excuse for role confusion in any organization today. It requires leadership, engagement, and communication along with facilitated discussion to iron out the details. And this is a leader’s essential task. We are here to help.
Theme 3: Career Prospects — Too often, product leaders are asked to be both a manager of teams and a developer of product strategy, also overseeing product execution as an orchestra leader. Each is hard; doing it all is even harder. Our research cited frustration with career advancement opportunities and lack of investment in people such as learning and development.
At the end of the day there is a lot at stake here and it’s unfortunate to see this function at a crossroads. Grant says it in even stronger terms — in peril. It’s a function near and dear to my heart and I was saddened but not surprised to see these developments. And so much of it boils down to commitment and communication.
We are working with leaders all the time to help. Consulting on RASI or talent assessment. Review of PM methodologies and helping to install one that works for the company and its culture and teams. Training under the methodologies of Grant’s company Product Growth Leaders. And we benchmark and evaluate operating practices such as in this piece or prior research over the years. If you are a senior exec in product, we also have a peer group for you. And in our CEO community we regularly advise about how to make sure this function is strong in the organization.
The CEO, strategy, and product functions are essential to align in this day and age with data and engineering in lockstep. A function in crisis that is a critical lynchpin needs attention. Because it is the mechanism, done well and right, that makes the virtuous circle of growth go round. Give us a call.
