You Don't Have an Engineering Problem, You Have a Product Management Problem

In The Trenches

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* Based on my own experience as a software CEO, I think that Product Management is one of the most important - and one of the lest well understood - ingredients to building a successful software company. Many software businesses (particularly mature ones still led by their original Founders) don't have any product management function at all. While this may be tenable under the Founder's leadership, it is almost never tenable when the company is acquired and led by a CEO with minimal industry experience.

It is also my experience that many problems that seem to be attributable to the engineering group (technical debt, high levels of customization, regularly missing deadlines, etc.) are actually product management problems masquerading as development problems. This episode, originally published in 2021, is as applicable today as it was then.

My guest today is Rich Mironov, who is North America's preeminent Product Management thought leader. He has spent 40 years in the software industry in numerous capacities, and currently acts as a Coach, Consultant, and Interim Executive for CEOs and Heads of Product across Canada and the United States, advising them on a diverse range of issues spanning product, marketing, engineering, and sales. Rich has led Product Management at six software companies, and has now consulted for more than 170 technology businesses of all sizes. He is the author of "Product Bytes", a hugely popular and long-running blog on software, start-ups, product strategies, Silicon Valley, and the inner life of product managers. Our conversation covers hiring a Product leader and Product team, how to think about prioritizing products/features/functions, how Product should interface with Sales and other internal departments, how involved CEOs should be in Product, and what fatal mistakes he’s seen Product Managers make.