What Your Product Team Says About Your Company Values

Teresa Torres argues that a company's staffing choices reveal its real values. Most companies say they prioritize customer love and data-driven decisions, yet employ far fewer product managers, designers, researchers, and analysts than engineers, often around 20 to 1. She sketches an ideal product team of roughly 8-10 people spanning engineering, product, design, research, and analytics, and explains that a single person can cover more than one role only under certain conditions. The piece matters because it frames underinvestment in product disciplines as a mismatch between stated ideals and actual resourcing.

01Key takeaways

• Look at how your headcount is distributed to see whether your stated values are actually resourced.
• Aim for a balanced product team that includes product, design, research, and data alongside engineering.
• Combine roles only when the person has deep experience, typically eight to ten years, in both areas.
• Be honest about workload before merging roles; a new market often needs a dedicated user researcher.
• Early-stage startups with little data can reasonably let an engineer cover analytics temporarily.
• Engineering-heavy team structures are a habit, not a proof of what works best.

02Key sections

The gap between stated values and staffing

Torres contrasts companies' professed commitment to user experience and data with the scarcity of the roles that deliver them. Engineering dominates headcount, leaving other disciplines stretched thin.

The ideal product team

She describes a balanced team of several engineers plus product, UX, visual design, research, and data roles. She notes the composition can flex depending on whether the product has a traditional interface.

Roles, not job titles

Some responsibilities can be combined in one person, but Torres says this works best for senior people with substantial experience. She advises being honest about how much work each role requires.

When doubling up is acceptable

A dedicated user researcher is essential when entering a new market, while early-stage startups can let an engineer handle analytics because data is sparse. Such shortcuts should be treated as exceptions.

Why the norm should change

Torres argues that product management and UX are young fields that have been underinvested in, and that engineering-heavy norms are habit rather than best practice.

03From the post

“Are you committed to creating a great user experience? Do you believe in data-driven product development? Are you motivated to create products that your customers love? I’m guessing most of you answered yes to all three of those questions. Let me ask you a different set of questions.”

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.