Hot Take: Stop Hiring “Product Managers” - We Need Product Engineers Instead
Okay, provocative title, but hear me out. I’ve been thinking a lot about the product-engineering divide and I’m increasingly convinced that the traditional PM role is breaking down.
The observation
The best products I’ve worked on came from engineers who had strong product sense. Not engineers taking orders from PMs, but engineers who deeply understood users, business constraints, and technical tradeoffs - and could make holistic decisions.
The worst products came from the telephone game: Customer need → PM interprets → Spec document → Engineer implements → Something gets lost at every step.
The translation tax
Here’s what that handoff model looks like in practice:
- Customer tells PM: “I need better analytics”
- PM writes spec: “Build a dashboard with these 12 metrics”
- Engineer builds exactly what’s spec’d
- Customer says: “This isn’t what I meant”
- Repeat
The problem? The person closest to the technology (engineer) is furthest from the customer. The person closest to the customer (PM) is furthest from technical possibilities. Nobody has the complete picture.
What product sense actually means
I’m not saying engineers should do customer interviews and competitive research (though some could!). I’m talking about engineers who can:
- Understand WHY a feature matters, not just WHAT to build
- Make scope tradeoffs based on user value, not just technical elegance
- See connections between different parts of the product
- Think about edge cases from a user perspective
- Question requirements when they don’t make sense
This isn’t about eliminating the PM function - it’s about distributing product thinking across the team.
My journey developing product sense
Three years ago, I was a pure code monkey. Give me a spec, I’ll build it. Don’t ask me why, that’s not my job.
Then I joined a startup where I HAD to wear multiple hats. I started:
- Sitting in customer calls (eye-opening!)
- Reading support tickets to understand pain points
- Using competing products to see what worked
- Asking “why” instead of just “what”
- Proposing solutions, not just implementing them
It completely changed how I approached engineering. I started building better solutions because I understood the context.
The 2026 trend
I’m seeing more “product engineer” roles that combine both skillsets. Companies like Figma, Linear, and Vercel are hiring engineers who think like product people. They’re not hiring PMs to tell engineers what to build - they’re hiring engineers who can figure out what to build.
This isn’t about cost-cutting or role consolidation. It’s about recognizing that the best decisions come from people who understand both the problem space AND the solution space.
The counter-argument (and why I’m not fully convinced)
I know what PMs will say: “Strategy, market analysis, roadmapping, stakeholder management - engineers don’t want to do that work.”
Fair point. There’s absolutely value in dedicated product leadership for:
- Market research and competitive intelligence
- Business model and monetization strategy
- Cross-functional coordination
- Long-term vision and roadmap
- Executive stakeholder management
Maybe what I’m really arguing for isn’t eliminating PMs, but evolving the relationship. Less “PM defines, engineer builds” and more “team collaboratively shapes solutions.”
The question I’m wrestling with
How do we develop product sense in engineering teams? It can’t just be “shadow a PM for a month.” It requires:
- Regular exposure to customers and their problems
- Understanding business metrics and what moves them
- Learning to think in user workflows, not just technical architecture
- Permission to question requirements and propose alternatives
- Recognition that product thinking is valuable engineering work
But most engineering orgs don’t create space for this. You’re evaluated on code output, not product thinking. You’re rewarded for building fast, not building right.
My questions for the community
- Do you buy this thesis? Or am I missing something important about the PM role?
- For engineers: How do you develop product sense without having “product manager” in your title?
- For PMs: How do you feel about engineers having strong product opinions? Help or hindrance?
- For leaders: How do you structure teams to encourage product thinking across roles?
I’m genuinely curious about perspectives here. Maybe I’m wrong and the traditional model works better than I think. Or maybe there’s a middle ground I’m not seeing.
What’s working at your organizations?