Are Most Product Development Managers Competent?

 

Recently, I met an engineering executive who shared some intriguing thoughts about product development.  I couldn’t disagree when he said that hardly any executives and managers who are responsible for product development functions really understand product development.  This is my experience as well.

 

The problem is that managers are overly focused on product design and engineering.  In a mature company, managers must make decisions about project funding, priorities, product obsolescence, staffing, resource allocation, product requirements, processes, product architecture, risk mitigation, and many more aspects of product development.

 

How many people are good at all this?  Not very many.  Most product companies don’t even have someone in the position of “VP Product Development.”  VP of R&D is another position that could be accountable for all this, but typically this is someone with an engineering or scientific background – not an expert with the breadth of skills necessary for product development.

 

Do you agree that very few managers have the necessary expertise?  Any recommendations for improving this situation?

 

Explore posts in the same categories: Clean Execution in Product Development, Defining and Creating Products Your Customers Value, Product Development Leadership

Tags: engineering, product architecture, product design, product development, product development functions, Product Development Managers, product obsolescence, product requirements, project funding, resource allocation, risk mitigation, VP of R&D, VP Product Development

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