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

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Jul 4, 2024

In this podcast, they discuss the importance of product management in software companies and how it can affect engineering, sales, and customer support. The guest, a product management expert, shares insights on hiring product leaders, prioritizing features, and dealing with sales requests. They also talk about the challenges faced by software CEOs in large sales transactions and the significance of soliciting feedback from customers and internal stakeholders.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Comprehensive Insights on Product Management

03:15 • 26min

Hiring the Right Person for Product Management Leadership

29:43 • 6min

Balancing Domain Expertise and Product Management Expertise in Hiring

35:51 • 4min

Product Management in Small Businesses

40:14 • 13min

Building In-House vs Partnering: Making Strategic Decisions

53:32 • 6min

Navigating Engineering-Product Management Dynamics

01:00:00 • 6min

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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.