---
aliases: ["Product Management"]
Is A: Topic
---
# Product Management

Product management covers the discipline of deciding what to build, why, and in what order — prioritization frameworks, user research, product strategy, and the organizational dynamics between product, engineering, and design. It is a topic of ongoing interest both as a former practitioner and as a newsletter writer covering engineering leadership.

## Why this matters

A large portion of the Refactoring audience works closely with product managers or holds PM-adjacent roles, and the interface between engineering and product is one of the most fertile areas for newsletter content. Understanding product thinking also makes Refactoring itself better — treating the newsletter as a product with users, retention metrics, and a roadmap is a perspective that sharpens decision-making. The frameworks from [[note-essentialism]] and [[note-good-strategy-bad-strategy]] apply directly to product prioritization, and the PM-engineering relationship is a recurring theme in podcast conversations.

## Key resources

- [[note-good-strategy-bad-strategy]] — the most useful strategy framework for product decisions
- [[note-essentialism]] — the discipline of doing less, better — directly applicable to product scope
- [[note-the-lean-startup]] — foundational thinking on validated learning and iterative product development
- "Inspired" by Marty Cagan — the standard reference on how to run a product organization
- Lenny's Newsletter — the go-to publication covering product management in depth

## Notes

- The best product managers are not feature factories — they spend more time defining the problem than designing the solution
- Most product prioritization frameworks (RICE, ICE, etc.) are useful as structured thinking exercises, not as objective decision-making tools — the numbers are always estimates
- The tension between engineering-led and product-led organizations is a false binary; the best teams have strong voices on both sides with a shared understanding of goals
- Roadmaps are communication tools, not commitments — the most important thing about a roadmap is that it reflects current thinking and gets updated regularly
- Writing about product management for an engineering audience requires respecting the engineering perspective — engineers are skeptical of PM frameworks for good reasons, and the best writing acknowledges that
