Config 2024: Hard truths about the future of product management (Claire Vo, CPO, LaunchDarkly)

Config 2024: Hard truths about the future of product management (Claire Vo, CPO, LaunchDarkly)
Everyone is over product-as-usual, especially in a post-ZIRP, pre-AGI world. Claire will dive into what’s actually going on in product management right now and what big changes we should expect in the future. It’s time for PMs to face reality, adapt their operating model, and start building. Leave frameworks and ""best practices"" at the door--we’re here to talk about what it will take to survive--and win--as a PM in this new era.
Featuring: Claire Vo, CPO, LaunchDarkly

[@francofagioli2526]

Here's a great example of what Dare Obasanjo (a recommended Figma Config 2024 talk) defines as bad PM traits - lack of strategy, inability to prioritize and no decision-making ('say yes to everything') + disrespect for other disciplines and know-it-all attitude (just you, the indispensable 'super IC' PM)

[@seraphyn3]

I guess the point is to be balanced and not being all black or white but take decision while adapting on the grays areas depending on the situation being able to have an overview of the project and be able to say yes and/or no accordingly.
On another level, a project manager should have knowledge about all aspect it embeds, not mastering it of course because we will never see a good UI/UX designer who can code perfectly like a pro dev and vis versa or a data analyst who can have a relevant and constructive UI/UX design input, etc...
So I would just conclude by saying that basically a PM should just be all ears, curious, and understand that quicker isn't equal better (quite the opposite in general), being customer centric while being able to navigate and coordinate all stakeholders in order to make a project become a product. But a PM is nothing alone that is for sure.

[@chadvavra]

I agree with all of it - including getting rid of current titles, allowing product owners to actually own products. (ie: nobody has to be replaced)

[@sodapop1205]

As much as I want to agree with her, this just shows A point of view that is pushing many products to be half baked and turns off customers.
This idea of saying yes to everything has been a new trend to mess everything up long term.
Though there is a thought of saying yes to keep customers engaged, the likeliness of creating true value is actually less.
Its really important that in the age of LLM's, uniqueness will be shown by product managers who can work with people and engage them well.
As more and more products get defined and made by LLM's. They will end up looking and feeling same.
The true value of the future is human insight and you are not going to get anywhere without being genuine about what you build.
This will be the difference between good and bad product managers of the coming years.

[@hanabi1888]

long story short: having no team, doing all the work yourself or optionally making your team do more work

[@EvanScott-i6u]

Realized that "Management" is misspelled in the title when doing a rundown of my favorites @figma

[@Figma]

Thanks for flagging!