> you (c-suite, boards) aren’t giving direction then how are the middle managers supposed to know what to build so that it aligns with long term growth goals...
> This feels like abdicating responsibility...
How a tech company is supposed to work is:
1. You get feedback from a cohort of customers. This is primarily collected by the CEO and Sales, as well as PMs.
2. Based on feedback collected, you then decide what to prioritize or build. This is primarily done by Product Management
3. Based on the scoped feature, you then try to understand how long it takes to build and what is the expected cost to build. This is primarily done by Engineering Management and a bit of Product Management
4. Based on the scoped proposal, now you try to project net new ARR and COGS that can be attributed to that proposal. This is done by Product Management with coordination with Sales and a subset of Engineering Management
5. Based on the set of proposals that have come in from all PMs and EMs, you now decide which ones make sense with existing customer demand, and which can drive revenue. This is done by Product and Engineering Leadership.
6. Based on those proposals that passed muster, you now propose an annual operating plan (AOP) to the board to justify headcount allocation. This is done by the C-Suite.
In a normal tech company, the primary steps (2-5) are done without the CEO in the conversation because that is not the job of the CEO. Their job is supposed to be the Sales and Customer Relations Manager for your largest 20 accounts, Investor Relation Management, and arbitrate between the various different functions within an organization.
A CEO is not expected to take part in the larger product creation lifecycle because it creates fear amongst ICs, because no one below the VP level wants to give a CEO unadulterated feedback - even if they really trust them - because of the power differential. This is why most CEO-driven initiatives have been severe boondoggles, such as Zuckerberg and the Metaverse, because no one could tell Mark otherwise and expect to keep their job - even people as powerful internally as Sheryl Sandberg (COO), Mike Schroepfer (CTO), and Marne Levine (CBO).
We are all adults. It is expected that people in your reporting structure are adults who are aligned with the primary incentive of the business - generate growing revenue while maintaining or enhancing COGS.
Mind you, this is the ideal world. Like everything else, humans muck it up. Boards, C-Suites, Mid-Level managers, and line level ICs all have various relationships with each other, and in a lot of cases, rational business decisions are disincentivized in order to prioritize personal decisions.