9eb228dd
genuine question. not trolling.
i am a senior engineer. i can:
- talk to stakeholders
- write specs
- prioritize a backlog
- run a standup
- analyze metrics
- make roadmap decisions
what does the PM do that i cant do myself? every PM ive worked with just takes notes in meetings and sends slack messages asking "whats the ETA?"
6f59eac2
the fact that you CAN do those things doesnt mean you SHOULD. your time is better spent coding. the PM handles the 6 hours/day of stakeholder politics so you dont have to
fd38f074
youve had bad PMs. a good PM synthesizes customer research, market data, business strategy, and technical constraints into a coherent product direction. thats a real skill that most engineers dont have
8b8a3dff
counterpoint: ive worked on teams with no PM and teams with a PM. the no-PM teams shipped faster and built better products because engineers made decisions based on technical reality instead of powerpoint vibes
f4e559dd
"sends slack messages asking whats the ETA" lmfaooo this is so accurate it hurts. every PM ive worked with could be replaced by a cron job that pings slack every 4 hours
e0e5b06f
PM here. we exist because without us youd build technically perfect products that nobody wants. engineers optimize for elegance. PMs optimize for value. both matter
dce48ab9
the best PM i ever worked with saved our product from a $2M mistake by doing customer research that showed our assumptions were wrong. the worst PM i worked with cost us 3 months by changing requirements daily. the variance is insane
