[phlakaton]

I think we agree?

Part of what I see emerging out of this whole 10x debacle is a critique of what makes a great engineer, and a realization that it means very different things to different people. Moreover, that one person's definition of a great engineer might come with some serious limitations baked in. For example, which keys on their keyboard are likely to wear out prematurely. :-P

The same is no doubt true with product managers. For example, a previous company I worked for divided up PMs into two roles – those who were experts at the business side and decided the larger direction of a product line, and those who were able to turn those directions into unambiguous specs for designers and engineers to produce. Different skillsets, both overlapping with each other and with other positions at the company. Considering those roles separately, you could be a great PM in at least two different ways at that company, but when you start taking leadership, teamwork, and mentorship qualities into account, it's clear that there were even more pathways up the mountain than that.