[motorest]

> Pete's just a rational actor in this scenario, the real issue is management with no insight into the reality of what they're 'managing'.

That's the norm, isn't it? The bulk of product managers aren't even technically oriented, let alone software engineering experts with a deep understanding of their own codebases.

Once I worked with a PM that quite openly stated he had to google what was a frontend and a backend developer and still failed to get a clear idea of what they did. How do you explain concepts such as technical debt to this sort of character?

[mrngm]

Find out their frame of reference, look for comparable concepts in the real world. For technical debt, this scene from Malcolm in the Middle (S03E06) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0 might be a good comparison.

If you refuse to explain relevant concepts to your PM, as a neighbouring commentor suggests, that increases the knowledge gap between you (or your team) and the PM. I think it's in the best interest of both the team and the PM that they have a shared understanding of what happens within a project. On the other hand, if the PM is not interested in any of those details, that is a sign that they might not be a good fit in that part of the organisation.

[intelVISA]

You don't, PM is mostly secretarial. If the actual line manager doesn't understand domain basics they're managing in name only: a deaf conductor.

Sure it happens often because tech is a very profitable, grifter magnet, but we really shouldn't normalize it nor expect to solve what is ultimately an organizational problem.