By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan argues that some of the best product people are not product managers at all, and that many strong product thinkers he knows are engineers. He defines a strong product person as someone obsessed with solving tough problems in ways users love, that sustains a business and is newly possible. He contends that top engineers think beyond feasibility to value, viability and usability, educating themselves on those factors. To illustrate, he points to a podcast between two engineers, Mike McCue and Molly White, as an example of real product sense. He also expresses skepticism that social media is a good source of product education, echoing Shreyas Doshi's point that the best practitioners are busy doing the work rather than building followings.
01Key takeaways
- Judge product talent by how people think about problems, not by job title.
- Strong engineers who care about value, viability and usability make excellent product partners.
- Be skeptical of social media as a primary source of product education.
- Learn real product sense by listening to and observing thoughtful practitioners at work.
- Feasibility alone is not enough; always pair technology options with user value and business sustainability.
02Key sections
- The best product people aren't on social media
- Building on Shreyas Doshi's observation, Cagan notes that social media is a poor source of serious product education. Top practitioners are focused on doing the craft instead.
- Product people aren't only product managers
- Cagan says he has never believed a title is required to excel at product. He has written before about alternatives to product managers.
- Defining a strong product person
- A strong product person is obsessed with tough problems, solves them in ways users love, sustains a business, and pursues what is newly possible.
- Why strong engineers excel at product
- Great engineers look past technical feasibility and care about value, viability and usability, actively educating themselves on those areas.
- A real-world example of product sense
- Cagan points readers to a podcast between two engineers to observe how they reason about product and what working with such engineers is like.
03From the post
“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.