Product Managers had a collective “Oh Sh*t!” moment this year when Brian Chesky (CEO of AirBnB) told a room of designers at Figma’s annual conference that he got rid of the Product Manager function. The headlines were sensational - Product is Dead! Hardly.
Yes, it’s true that Brian Chesky now calls them “Product Marketers.” But let’s look at what Brian said and what this actually means. And I want to say right away that Brian does not direct nor does he dictate what Product looks like in the tech world. This shift is actually a further elevation of the Product Manager and a signal to Product Managers about the power they have.
Brian said: “We have product marketers, we combined product management with product marketing, and we said that you can’t develop products unless you know how to talk about the products. We made the team much smaller, we elevated design. Designers are seen as architects that are going to sit alongside engineers, they’re not just going to be told what to do by Product managers, they are going to be helping drive the product. Product managers are critical, but they shouldn’t be doing the job of a designer. The best thing for PMs is to pair them with design from the beginning. it’s a perfect harmony from the beginning.”
In additional interviews, Brian goes on to clarify that:
Product is market-driven and this is Product Management 101 - they need to be focused on what the customer needs and the most impactful swings to drive business value.
Product is equal to design and engineering and this is Scrum 101 - this is the makings of a truly autonomous Scrum structure. Product, Design, Engineering, Data working together as equals to build solutions and drive results.
Product must know how to position and drive adoption of their product and this is Full-Stack Product Management 101 - they must know how to write value propositions, bring products to market, and drive users through conversion funnels.
What Brian did is not revolutionary. His change simply re-focused Product Management IN AIRBNB on creating value for customers and the business. If you listen to Lenny’s Podcast interview with Brian Chesky, Brian tells the story of how siloed and distant Product Management got at AirBnB from creating meaningful value. Brian’s change to Product Management at AirBnB is a correction directly related to AirBnB’s growth and business evolution. It is not a philosophical declaration of the role of Product in Tech.
Rest easy Product Managers. Your roles are safe…focus on building solutions that address customer’s needs and drive business value. That’s why we all got into Product in the first place.
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