Hot Take: Product Owner is not a Job Title

Maybe it's time we stopped adding layers to a process that's already complex enough.

👋 Hey, Sam here! Welcome back to The Product Trench. Every other Wednesday, I cut through the noise to share actionable insights, no-nonsense advice, and stories related to product management, startups, and leadership. Occasionally, I will share hot takes on something that I feel strongly about.

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You know that feeling when you pull out a fresh pair of socks from the laundry, only to realize you've got two left socks? It's confusing, it's frustrating, and somehow, it keeps happening. Now, imagine trying to explain to someone why you keep ending up with mismatched socks. That's kind of how I feel about the Product Owner (PO) role in tech—confusing, frustrating, and increasingly common.

What is a Product Owner, anyway?

The Product Owner role was born from Scrum. In the Scrum Guide, the PO was meant to represent the customer's voice, prioritize the backlog, and make sure the team was working on the right stuff. Sounds good, right? Who wouldn't want that? But here's the thing: that was a role, not a job title. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that "Owner" sounded cooler than "Manager" and boom - we started seeing "Product Owner" pop up on LinkedIn profiles as a job title, which is where things started to go sideways.

To make matters worse, the PO role varies so wildly between organizations that it's hard to know what someone does when they list "Product Owner" on their resume. Are they prioritizing features, managing sprints, or just acting as a glorified note-taker for the dev team? In many cases, the answer is "yes" to all of the above, but none of these tasks require a distinct role.

When a role becomes a job title

So, how did we go from a well-defined Scrum role to a job title that has HR departments scratching their heads? The shift happened gradually as companies started to scale. The responsibilities of a Product Manager (PM) were sometimes too broad, so splitting off a chunk of them and giving them to someone else seemed like a good idea. The problem? Instead of solving issues, it often created a new layer of bureaucracy.

And here's the kicker: despite all this confusion, the PO role is the third fastest-growing in tech in the U.S., with around 65,00 of them in the market. But what does that really mean? Are we actually seeing the emergence of a necessary new role, or are companies just slapping the PO title on anything that smells vaguely like product management?

But wait? Why didn't I define what a Product Manager is as well? It's because there isn't a standard one. If there was, a lot of us "thought leaders" wouldn't have much to talk about then. But if you must know, I use the original description Lenny uses - "the job of a PM is to deliver business impact by marshalling the resources of their team to identify and solve the most impactful customer problems."

The redundancy of the PO role

Here's a hot take: the PO role is redundant. Yep, I said it. In a well-functioning product team, the responsibilities of a PO should be shared between the PM and the engineering manager (EM). These folks already have a holistic view of the product and its technical limitations. They're the ones who should be making decisions about what to build, when, and why. Adding a separate PO into the mix often just adds another layer of communication (and confusion). When you split responsibilities too thin, you end up with people who know a little about a lot but aren't truly empowered to make impactful decisions.

The practical realities: PM as PO

A common objection to my take is that PMs can't effectively be POs unless they have dedicated engineering and design resources. And you know what? That's absolutely true. But here's the thing: if your PM doesn't have access to dedicated engineering and design resources, you've got bigger problems than job titles.

The trio of PM, engineering, and design is crucial for any successful product. Without these resources, you're just spinning your wheels. But that doesn't mean you need a separate PO title—what you need is a clear understanding of who's responsible for what. A good PM should be able to wear the PO hat when needed, provided they have that support. The idea that a separate PO is necessary because PMs are too overwhelmed is an organizational failure, not a justification for a new role.

Moving forward

Before I get more carried away (and anyone storms the comments section), let's take a step back. Despite my gripes, I'm not here to throw shade at everyone with a PO title, nor am I advocating for firing all the POs. I recognize that words have power, people have feelings, and articles like this can have an impact on people's careers, especially in this market. But at the same time, we need to call out when something doesn't make sense. And right now, the PO title? It doesn't make sense.

Jason Knight makes some great points in his defence of POs—they play a crucial role in many organizations, especially where the product culture is less mature. The reality is, these folks aren't going to just up and change careers overnight. But what they can do is upskill. If you're a PO who's genuinely helping your team build great products, more power to you.

Whether you're a PM or PO, what really matters is your ability to:

1. Understand user needs and market dynamics

2. Understand the business impact of your decisions

3. Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels

4. Make data-driven decisions

5. Prioritize ruthlessly

6. Collaborate seamlessly with cross-functional teams

If you can nail those skills, I don't care if your title is "Supreme Overlord of User Stories" – you'll be valuable.

So, what's the takeaway here? Maybe it's time we stopped adding layers to a process that's already complex enough. The titles might stay confusing for a while, but if we focus on what really matters—delivering value to customers—then maybe we can move past the semantics and get back to building great products.

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See you next time.

— Sam ✌️

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