By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan answers a set of recurring questions he fielded at a conference, distilled into a quick Q&A on how product organizations should be structured. He argues that product management defines what engineering builds and sits as a peer to marketing and engineering rather than under either. He offers rough staffing ratios for product managers and designers, recommends that product management and design be teamed together, and favors Agile with adjustments for design and product work. The piece is brief but gives a useful baseline for org design conversations.
01Key takeaways
- Define product management as owning what the engineering team builds, and keep marketing focused on telling the world about it.
- Place product management at the same organizational level as marketing and engineering to avoid skewed priorities.
- Use a rough guideline of one product manager for every 6-10 engineers when sizing the team.
- Pair interaction designers with product managers closely, since the two roles need to work very tightly together.
- Look inside your company for smart, passionate people who can be taught product skills.
- Add a Product Council if your organization struggles to make decisions and stick to them.
02Key sections
- Core responsibilities of product management
- Product management is defined as the function that specifies the product engineering will build, while product marketing is responsible for communicating that product to the world.
- Where product management should sit
- Cagan argues product management should be a peer to marketing and engineering rather than reporting into either one.
- Staffing ratios for product managers and designers
- He suggests roughly one product manager per 6-10 engineers and a 1:4:8 ratio of visual designers, interaction designers, and product managers.
- Hiring, process and decision-making
- Strong product managers should be sourced from internal thought leaders, dedicated project managers help on large projects, Agile is preferred with adjustments, and a Product Council can address indecision.
03From the post
“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.