People Say Product Managers Aren’t the CEO of the Product. I Think They’re Wrong
Ben Horowitz (of Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz) was one of the first to suggest that a Product Manager should be the “CEO of the product”. Since then, received quite a bit of criticism. That criticism is wrong.
What a Great CEO Does
The heart of most criticism can be paraphrased like so; “product managers don’t have the authority to just tell people what to do”. Well, anyone who writes this misunderstands what a great CEO does, and (for me) misses the point of making this comparison.
Here’s some of the core responsibilities of a CEO:
- Own the vision
- Provide the proper resources for the company to execute against the vision
- Build, maintain and adapt the culture
- Oversee and deliver the company’s performance
Of course some CEOs (and perhaps some of the most famous) have an autocratic style, but it doesn’t define what a great CEO is. A great CEO creates the environment for a team succeed, puts the right people in place, then keeps everyone on track and on mission. Sound familiar?
Applying It to Product Management
Lets have a look at product management. Great product managers:
- Own the vision: Whilst other people will help shape (or even set) the product vision, a great product manager can describe it in a clear, engaging way for all stakeholders.
- Ensure they’ve got the right resource: To execute against the vision and near-term roadmap. If they haven’t, they should make that clear as soon as possible, and do all they can to get it.
- Build the right culture: And ensure their teams follow the fundamental principles of good product development, such as tackling the big risks early and solving problems collaboratively. (This is because ‘culture’ is your reflex ways of working — not free lunches or a ping pong table).
- Oversee and deliver the product’s performance: After all, that’s what a product manager is really there for.
There’s some great articles that outline the skills you need as a product manager, such as this very good article (which inspired me to write this post). However, above responsibilities — whilst critical — receive very little airtime.
There’s some very good reasons for this:
- Doing these — and doing them well — is really difficult
- You don’t have direct control over some (or indeed any) of these. Most can be achieved through influence, but some may be completely out of your control at times
- Affecting these can take a long time, and it can take months to realise whether you’ve improved them or not
This is no different to a CEO. Sometimes the market catching up to you without you fully realising it. Sometimes you don’t have enough finance available to make the key hires you need. And — as I well know — it can be extremely difficult to know whether what you’re doing now will lead to results in the future.
But some of the best product managers I’ve come across take on these core responsibilities without event thinking of it, and chip away at them every week. I would encourage you to do so too.
How You Can Do the Same
Just like anything difficult it’ll take time. But the first step is understanding these responsibilities fully.
Some of the most successful people in a workplace are those that understand the core responsibilities (and principles) behind the work they do — particularly in a complex role like product management. This is because there’s no “one way” of achieving these. So understanding and remembering core responsibilities and principles has to be the starting point.
Once you do, treat each just like a product process:
- Set yourself a vision: Of where you want to get to
- Generate some ideas for how to improve: Bonus points for doing so collaboratively with your team
- Test and iterate
This is most relevant with building the right culture, but you can — for example — improve your ability to get the right resources by working on how your persuade key stakeholders in the company. And if you’re struggling, find a mentor to help. They don’t have to be from product — many disciplines face these same challenges.
But on a final — perhaps somewhat contradictory — note, don’t get caught up in the debate about whether you’re the CEO of the product or not.
Instead, focus on what a great CEO does, and try and do the same.
