[hn_throwaway_99]

I think great PMs are invaluable. Unfortunately, I find the vast majority of PMs are nearly a net negative on productivity.

My biggest issue is that I believe PMs must be technical, but many aren't. So what I often see happen is PMs come up with designs and requirements that have 0 consideration for how much they will cost to implement. Then there is a painful back and forth with engineering where we say "OK, this is just flat out impossible" or "there is a way we could do this that is 10 times easier". It's like trying to design a car without knowing which car parts and technologies are available.

[paulryanrogers]

This has been my experience as well. Yet finding technical PMs is difficult, I've only ever seen two in my nearly 20 years. For SAAS non-technical PMs are the worst since so much of the offerings are tech.

[cyrilgrislain]

Yep. and worse, it's like designing a car without knowing the car's economics. Like building a product for the product's sake. In SW/HW, a PM that doesn't also build the unit economics is a wrong management choice and a waste of resources.