[jaybrendansmith]

This is entirely because of a weak product culture at those companies. What does that mean? It means product is unable to make recommendations based on experience or design, only metrics. This is because engineering management only listens to metrics and data. (And yes, it could also be because the product team lacks talent) If there's a strong product culture, for example what Jobs had at Apple for a long time, the product team has executive backing and is able to make what others would call risky decisions. However if you are the product manager, speaking to the customers, these decisions are actually pretty obvious, and not particularly risky at all. Fortunately, in this situation you are empowered to make the right decisions for the end users. (To take a dead-obvious example: No macbook pro product lead would have ever suggested to remove all the ports. This decision was made by design. Had there been anyone in product with serious backing, this would never had been allowed to happen.) If you are in product management, the most important career decision you can make is to find companies with a strong product culture. Don't pick firms that do not value product, you will only be sidelined and blamed for their poor product decisions. The biggest challenge with your chosen career is that nobody outside of it understands it. It takes a certain confidence and a great deal of skill to be consistently successful.