[rch]

I've worked with only one truly effective 'does everything' product manager, and I'd look forward to working with him again. It's rare to find natural executives that haven't gravitated into more straightforward executive roles. Perhaps you're leaning in that direction yourself!

What has been consistently effective at the team level is to divide the various functions discussed here between a 'product scientist' and a 'project manager' who both collaborate with engineering (plus UX, QA, etc). These roles may employ different titles, but I think my terminology more or less captures what they do well.

[darrmit]

I like to think I am leaning in that direction! I have no real desire at this point in my career to be an executive unless it's an executive with a close association to the technical problems/decisions facing a company. I feel like product gives me a chance to strike that balance, whereas my original career path (sysadmin --> project manager/consulting engineer --> technical manager) had me dedicating a lot more time to business decisions and people management that I preferred.