By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan follows up his article on product management theater by arguing that where PM theater exists, product leadership theater usually exists too. Product leaders often blame senior executives, such as non-product CEOs or top-down, sales-driven cultures, for their problems. Cagan contends that leaders have at least as much work to do themselves. Many of the complaints product leaders voice, like weak PMs, lack of empowerment, disengaged engineers, and distrustful stakeholders, are largely consequences of the leaders' own inaction. The piece matters because it reframes transformation as starting with the product organization itself rather than waiting for executives to change.
01Key takeaways
- Before blaming executives, examine whether your own leadership is building the skills your teams need.
- If you lack the capability to develop your product people, your teams will struggle to be empowered.
- Your ownership of outcomes is limited by the credibility you have earned.
- Changing hearts and minds is a core part of a product leader's job, not an optional extra.
- Transformation to a product model should start with raising the product organization's own game.
02Key sections
- Clarifying the previous argument
- Cagan clarifies that his earlier piece aimed to encourage skill development rather than assign blame. He notes that the least skilled people are often the most vulnerable.
- Leadership theater mirrors management
- Product management theater usually coexists with product leadership theater, since strong PMs are typically developed by strong product leaders.
- Blaming senior leadership
- Product leaders tend to point to executives as the root cause, though Cagan acknowledges executives do have a role in moving to the product model.
- Leaders' own problems
- Cagan lists common complaints from product leaders and argues each one is a result of the leaders' own actions or inactions.
- Ownership and influence
- Leaders have as much ownership as their credibility, and part of their job is changing hearts and minds. Success starts with the product organization raising its game.
03From the post
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Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.