Product management is hosting a party, not playing chess

My metaphor for product leadership is a Jazz Band: step back and let your players shine.

Seems like there are some steps missing between the quoted at the beginning and the outrage in the article. I don’t really understand the specifics of the complaint.

My main thought reading the quote at the top is, “you shouldn’t call people ‘neckbeards’”. But it is also true that not all engineers want to talk to customers. Don’t judge a fish by how well they ride a bicycle, and all that. “It takes all kinds” is a beautiful expression to sum that up.

Product managers can then think much farther out and/or can work across multiple teams.

Product Management is hosting a party...

...but the venue owner wants the staff to do insane party tricks instead of buy chips and soda

...and wants to take half the guests off the list because they invited too many people

...and wants to change the theme 12 hours before the party starts, because they're _certain_ the party goers will love this new theme (despite never talking to them)

Your job as a PM is to make sure the staff and the party goers never realize any of this is happening in the background. So they can focus on doing their job well.

And to also have a good enough understanding of what the needs of the party goers are to make sure you're throwing the right party

How big is the jazz band? If you have a small jazz band, that's fine. If you have a big band, you need someone to organize logistics. Somebody to book events. And if you're trying to make a profit, you might even need to adapt your style or respond to customer needs, such as a particular attire for different events. You might even have someone in that particular role. If there is a tour, it might even be a full time role.