Choosing the Business or the Product: Why Senior Managers Cannot Effectively Act As Product Managers

Part 2 of 2

I've spent my entire career around technology, product development and software development. We learn a lot over the course of a couple decades. One thing I've learned recently is that opportunities to witness multiple iterations of a similar process over a short period of time provides a great opportunity to compare behaviors and results.

In my more than twenty years of managing software development projects I've seen a lot. But the past two years at Accelerance has exposed me to as many projects as my entire career had up to that point. Seeing so much so quickly helps to expose flaws and spotlight successes. As I've had the opportunity to see these, I've reflected upon through those prior projects to validate or disprove the hypothesis developed.

Doing so has resulted in two significant product management observations that these experiences have proven to be true. I explained the first in an earlier post. My goal here is to explain the other.

I've interacted with a number of business owners and leaders who have grown up within their respective businesses. Often they were founders or early leaders who were responsible for product management of a core product. At some point it was their idea — "their product".

As the business grew and evolved they have come to identify with the product as much as they have the business. And rather than finding someone else to evolve the product to the next level as they run the businesss, they remain in a capacity where nothing significant happens with the product without their approval.

This model is both bad for the product (or service, regardless of what it is) and is equally bad for the business. The reason why is so simple that it's amazing to me that it's not so obvious to be more easily avoided. Simply put; an effective product manager doesn't have time to lead a well-run business and a senior manager who is effective in their business role doesn't have the time to be an effective product manager.

Stepping back from the situation, and looking at it for what it is, makes that painfully obvious.

An effective executive can't be in the weeds with day-to-day product management. When they are the business suffers. When they're not the product suffers.

This is not to say that an effective business leader can't remain involved. Often times it's best for them to do so. After all, they got the product to where it is and are often have an understanding of business operations and clients that help to define value and priorities.

Instead, they must invest the time into transferring the vision, historical knowledge and business value to a new product manager. And more importantly they need to understand that this new person won't do it 100% the same way going forward that the original product manager would have. They must empower, trust and hold the new product manager accountable for executing on the road map.

In a scaling business, an executive who is responsible for product development must choose either the product or the business, deciding where they can provide the most value. And they must find a competent professional to take the reigns of the other.

This is easier said than done because a senior manager who has overseen product development for years often identifies their personal value to the company with their understanding of where that product has come from. For the sake of the business, they must choose to either lead the business or the product management team, and to hire someone else to do the other. Not doing so will ultimately cause both to fail.