[leoedin]

I've seen "product" done badly at multiple companies. I've still not seen it done very well. I think the problem is structural. Of all the areas of software development process that get cargo culted without careful consideration of actual effect, product management is the worst (with "scrum" a close second!)

Someone in management decides that "we need to be product led" and appoints a product manager or owner. They then either spend their time micro managing the development process, or making unrealistic goals which don't take into account the development team at all.

I have sometimes seen good product managers - people who are engaged enough with the development process to understand the state of things, and can suggest the right direction to take development work to meet external requirements. The problem seems to be that there's not an effective selection process for them. When an organisation is "product led" that makes the product manager a de-facto team leader (regardless of what people say) which makes it very hard for the developers to hold them accountable. There's limited objective metrics you can hire them against, and the person who does hire them is often their manager - less motivated by development productivity than by the appearance of productivity.

[jiggywiggy]

It's just hard in general. So it will feel messy from the inside.