Mastering the art of adaptability (or the end of product management as we know it)

What does the future of product management look like? After many panic-inducing headlines about big tech getting rid of product managers, the mist is starting to clear.

There doesn’t appear to be much consensus about what a product manager actually does — or what value we bring to a company. But it’s pretty clear that there is value, otherwise the debate that rages when someone like Brian Chesky removes product management at Airbnb or Dovetail follows suit would’ve died down pretty quickly.

Turns out, it’s not so straightforward.

The complexity and nuances of defining what a product manager does

There’s a lot of variability when it comes to product management — in terms of the expectations, responsibilities, and how external factors like company size, industry, or type of product influence the position. In my experience working for start-ups and scale-ups, the scope of the role changes daily. As has often been quoted, we “fill in the white space”. But this is just one of the many “branches of activity” expected of a product manager in fulfilling our ultimate mission — delivering value.

What differs is the way to go about that delivery. Given that there’s no singular, static job description for a product manager, it’s clear that employers view value differently. Some might focus heavily on technical knowledge, others on business analytics, and others, like Chesky, on marketing and product positioning. What doesn’t change, however, is the need for a versatile skillset.

Is a product manager by any other name still a product manager?

The future of product management is likely to see a lot more crossover between roles. Shouldn’t everyone in the organisation care about the success of their product? For companies like Mixpanel, this means giving engineers direct access to customers. In others, like the Bitcoin wallet I worked for, it meant designers and marketers joining me in conducting regular user interviews. In other words, even if companies might not have anyone with a product manager job title, they will definitely still have product managers.

As Chesky himself later elucidated after his headline-grabbing claim, it’s not that Airbnb got rid of the product management role — it’s more about how he sees the function working. For him, product management isn’t project managing engineering teams or designers, it should be defining product marketing — how to speak to consumers about what you’re building.

The added value of following an unconventional career path

Coming from a marketing background, I wholeheartedly agree — a product manager must know how to sell their product to customers. After all, what’s the point of the best product in the world if no one knows about it?

Though I’ve pivoted away from pure marketing, it continues to inform my approach. Thinking about positioning helps me set priorities. And in doing so, the brand narrative drives the roadmap — what’s the story we’re telling? What is the minimum feature set we need to convey this narrative to our users? As soon as we have a coherent internal story, we can define the marketing messages and channels through which we’ll communicate it.

Applying the skills acquired in a different role demonstrates the versatility and adaptability at the heart of product management.

The future of product management is “good for the good”

So despite the uncertainties still overwhelming the tech industry, I think good product managers remain a valuable addition to any tech team. Call me biased, but I don’t agree with the companies who have genuinely removed a product management function — what’s going on at Twitter these days, anyway?

We fill in the white spaces. We close the knowledge gaps. And as Chesky identified, we deliver value by building coherent product narratives. So whether we continue to be called “product managers” or the role transitions to something else is almost irrelevant. Our ability to mould ourselves to the needs of the moment and bring everything together ensures we’ll continue to thrive.