VP leadership is of the opinion that “We don’t need Product Managers. Engineering + TPMs should be enough.” I am a product manager and see it differently - and have been asked to write a doc to justify why we need a product org.
Context: large infrastructure/platform org that builds tools to automate internal work (~35+ active programs, lots of cross-team dependencies). VP leadership (and entire company) is heavily Engineering led.
Current state:
- Everything is “high priority”
- TPMs spread across too many efforts
- Lots getting shipped, unclear what actually moves the needle
- Roadmap churn mid-quarter
As I write this doc to justify “why product”, I am interrogating my own beliefs and want to crowdsource wisdom from people who have had related experiences.
Would love real examples (successes or failures) as well as any suggestions about data / metrics that could help clarify the value of product.