Myth 1: Product Management Always Sits at the Intersection of Engineering, Design, and Business
Sure, this is the ideal scenario, but it’s more of a goal than a reality for most of us. Often, product management reports to engineering, turning the role into a mix of technical project management and program management. In other cases, it falls under marketing, making product managers technical champions of the go-to-market strategy, heavily involved in positioning and messaging.
While there are strong product leaders with the title of Chief Product Officer (CPO) who truly operate at this intersection, the trend of having dual-role executives like CMO/CPO or CTO/CPO means many product managers are still in subordinate roles.
Myth 2: Product Managers Have Ultimate Authority Over Their Products
In truth, product management is all about influence, not authority. That’s why it’s often a second career for many. Even in a perfect setup, product managers create a vision based on evidence and analysis, then work to get other teams on board. They don’t build the vision through direct power but by convincing others to support and contribute to it.
In most organizations, engineering, marketing, and sales don’t report to product management. This separation is beneficial because it ensures ideas are either reinforced by or challenged by discrete business goals. Product managers are accountable for their product’s success but don’t own the resources needed to deliver it. They lead by influence, not by control.
Myth 3: Product Manager, Project Manager, and Program Manager Are Synonyms
This is a common misconception, often because product managers end up doing a bit of everything. However, these roles are distinct in both name and function.
- Project Managers are the organizers, coordinating activities, and ensuring teams are communicating and collaborating effectively. They’re the point person for a project but not the ultimate decision-maker or owner of the effort.
- Program Managers handle cross-team projects, managing schedules and dependencies. They’re accountable for accurate reporting and status updates, navigating the landscape through frameworks like DACI/RACI, but they don’t weigh in on market fit or own business outcomes.
- Product Managers are the voice of the market, responsible for understanding customer needs and defining competitive solutions. They might coordinate between teams and track schedules, but their main focus is on the success of the product, not just the timeline.
Myth 4: Product Management Is a Technical Role
Some think product managers need to be tech wizards, deeply involved in system design and database structures, or even capable of stepping in for engineering managers. This isn’t the case. While many product managers have technical backgrounds, others come from UX, liberal arts, or other fields. Understanding technology is crucial, but the nitty-gritty details should be left to the experts.
Product managers should be involved in strategic decisions about the product, blending insights from various teams. Their role is more about being at the intersection of all these domains rather than being purely technical.
Myth 5: Product Managers Only Collect Customer Requirements, and Customers Are Experts on the Products They Use
Customers know their pain points best, but they’re not always the best source for solutions. If you ask a customer how to improve a horse-drawn buggy, they might suggest a robotic horse, not imagine an automobile.
Product managers gather customer pain points and synthesize them into actionable requirements. While it might sometimes look like we’re just passing customer requests to engineering, our job is to dig deeper and find solutions that customers haven’t thought of yet. It’s about understanding the problem space and crafting innovative solutions, not just implementing customer suggestions.
Reality-Based Product Management 