Alternatives To Product Managers

Marty Cagan responds to a public interview with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky by examining alternatives to product managers. He defines product management as owning the value and viability of what gets built, and argues that someone must do it regardless of title. He reviews common substitutes: founders or stakeholders making product decisions (which he sees as a root cause of failure), a team member such as a designer or tech lead stepping up (hard to sustain), and strong product leaders covering the work, as Apple does. He cautions that Apple's model depends on exceptionally experienced product leaders, and that true product managers remain the most scalable solution.

01Key takeaways

• Product management is the responsibility for value and viability, and someone must cover it whatever the job title.
• Feature teams and Agile product owners often drift into project management or backlog administration rather than product work.
• Leaders who own product decisions themselves while teams only deliver features usually see efforts fail.
• Skipping product managers only works if you have exceptionally strong, experienced product leaders in place.
• True product managers remain the most scalable and sustainable way to drive consistent customer-centered innovation.

02Key sections

Why the topic matters now

Cagan explains his hesitation to write about a provocative leader comment, but notes widespread frustration with product managers and the lessons it surfaces. He frames this as the first of two articles.

Feature teams and their mislabeled roles

Product managers in feature teams tend to become project managers, and Agile product owners often become backlog administrators. Neither provides real product management.

Founder or stakeholder-driven product management

When leaders own value and viability while teams only build roadmap features, the model is well known to fail. Cagan calls this the root cause of most failed efforts.

Another team member steps up

Designers or tech leads sometimes take on product management, but this dual role requires two full-time jobs and is neither scalable nor sustainable, though admirable.

Product leader-driven product management

Apple succeeds by relying on highly skilled product leaders rather than product managers, a model that suits consumer devices but has limits for diverse services and apps.

Should you consider an alternative?

Leaders hoping to skip product managers must have truly strong product leaders; most CEOs who imagine themselves as the next Steve Jobs are not successful.

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.