All too often in the software industry, we have CEOs that are the product’s original parent. As a subordinate PM, its pretty impossible to tell that CEO what to do or what their baby should grow up to be.

In an age where customer is king, why does so much software fail to meet our expectations?

After more than 30 years perfecting the science of software development, why is this industry still so amused by its own “opportunities”?

Applications are often buggy, inflexible and incomplete. Programs are often difficult to use and ugly to look at. And are so full of features and so empty of usability that even the help files need help.

I’ll give you one good reason: poor product management.

I have spent more than a decade teaching people how to be better product managers. Between my book and presentations, I have reached well over 30,000 people, so if there is anyone to blame for poor product management – especially in software – its probably me.

But I dare say, poor PM is rarely due to a lack of knowledge. It’s usually due to a few things that are more the fault of the company than the product manager.

Why Product Management hits the wall

1. First, product managers need to be empowered – and yes, this starts with having a product manager that has the confidence and existing respect to do the job right. By promoting the lowest man on the totem pole into the product management position, this isn’t a plan for success.

Most product plans are built from the idea forward instead of the sales opportunities back

Often times, the CEO or hiring manager doesn’t know what a product managers does – or worse yet, they don’t want to hire anyone that may challenge their own standing. All too often in the software industry, we have CEOs that are the product’s original parent. As a subordinate PM, its pretty impossible to tell that CEO what to do or what their baby should grow up to be.

This can be equally hard when the engineering management is overly opinionated or the sales team has the company by its ‘ears’. Therefore, organizations should make sure that they take time to hire the right product manager and then give him/her the opportunity to bring forward relevant data and the wisdom of the multiple crowds that the PM is chartered to interact with.

2. The second reason product managers can’t get the job done well is due to panic. Organizations tend to panic when the competition moves or the market shifts. Companies also panic at the possibility that if they don’t change the current course and stay ‘agile’, that one demanding customer could cause the company to sink.

This panic happens in all sized companies and in all economic conditions. Why? Because most product plans are built from the idea forward instead of the sales opportunities back.

Rarely are products built after market requirements have been gathered and understood and built into a well thought out and committed vision, strategy and roadmap. Because without a vision, a strategy and solid roadmaps, implementation is a result of reaction, and reaction is a first cousin of panic.

3. And the third reason product management is forever in a no-win zone, is that as an industry, we still don’t teach and support product management as a profession. We continue to pull people out of supporting roles such as pre-sales, engineering and other functions which are like the backup singers to the front man.

Ironically what makes a product manager so great is that they are in fact, a bit like divas. They actually like to have the microphone and spotlight which is how and why they can carry off such a precarious role. This is why product managers often move on to be entrepreneurs and CEOs.

So while professional product management is getting more and more organized through the many books, classes, certifications, and conferences happening these days, it is far from a consistent discipline from company to company and many CEOs still question its value.

Few benchmarks and high expectations: product management is easy to target as the reason why software products continue to miss the mark.

As long as product management isn’t appreciated and supported by corporate leaders, it will continue to contribute to the failure of so many software initiatives.

Products will continue to be loaded with features that no one ever uses. They will continue to be late and unstable. Cross functional teams will remain dysfunctional as documentation will always be in catch up mode and the sales team will free wheel it by committing to things that aren’t in any existing business plan.

And marketers will continue to position their products as the most robust when all the customer really wants is the one that is most reliable. It all points to the lack of good product management – sometimes because of the product manager but more often, due to a lack of support from the company they keep.