Redefining Success for Product Managers in 2025: The Road Ahead
By Request - Observations from the 2024 Frontlines
I’ve had several conversations with peers, leaders, and more recently a technology recruiter - it’s clear that Product Management is under a microscope like never before. One theme that keeps coming up:
What’s happening with product management, and where is it headed, given the direct and indirect “assaults” it has faced this year and last ?
During the Product Leader Summit this year,
shared with me that about half of her network of product leaders were out of a job, and looking. In the past 6 months, I’ve attended my share of product meetups, and the number of people with the ‘looking for work’ dot on their name tag, continues to grow. There appears to be a continuous stream of folks who want to become product managers, and not enough roles to keep existing PMs and these new entrants employed.Given this backdrop and with 2024 in the rearview mirror, I wanted to share what these trends mean for PMs as they prepare for the challenges and opportunities of 2025. While there are undeniable challenges ahead, there’s also plenty of opportunity for PMs willing to adapt, learn, and grow.
Observations on the Changing Landscape of Product Management
Less Patience for Strategic Value
Organizations are feeling the financial crunch with the push for profitable growth, and it’s putting strategic investments under the microscope. In this environment, patience is in short supply, and the demand for immediate results is overshadowing longer-term strategic bets. Product managers and leaders, whose true impact often lies in mid to long-term outcomes, are finding it challenging to demonstrate their value in such an environment.For PMs, this means the challenge isn’t just delivering results—it’s delivering them fast, while also reminding stakeholders that transformative outcomes often take time. PMs, more than ever, must show their value and resilience in navigating today’s constraints without losing sight of tomorrow’s opportunities.
-Misunderstanding of Product Management’s Strategic Role
Product management can sometimes feel like trying to explain the rules of chess to someone who only sees checkers. The depth of the role—balancing customer needs, communicating just in time, influencing nay-sayers with some data, technical feasibility, and financial outcomes—often gets reduced to visible tasks like backlog refinement, requirements gathering, and spec writing.When companies downsize and PMs are removed, these tasks are often absorbed by designers, engineering managers, or analysts, fueling the perception that PMs are dispensable. However, the multi-horizon strategy and leverage (i.e. balancing now-vs-later, sequencing investments for optimal customer and business impact) —the part that makes the magic happen—gets lost. Great PMs find opportunities amidst uncertainty, challenge the status quo, and chart new paths for the business.
They don’t just keep the trains running; they decide which trains to build, which tracks lead somewhere worth going, and ensure that the trains can get there.
-Preference for Specialists Over Generalists
With budgets tightening, companies are looking for PMs who bring deep industry expertise (the "unicorns" we all know and love). This trend can feel like a catch-22: if you’re a generalist, you may struggle to find opportunities; but if you’re too specialized, the path to broader leadership roles, like GM, can be challenging.The lesson? Strive to deepen your expertise in areas that matter most to your organization while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. It is essentially the new reemergence of the T-shaped professional as applied to product management. Specialize where you can, in something you connect with but, also remember that everything is changing all at once, so be water: “Specialization is your foundation, but adaptability is the key to your growth”.
-Flatter Structures and the Rise of the Senior IC
As organizations adopt flatter structures, product management is seeing fewer management-track and junior roles. Companies are instead investing in building a strong bench of Senior and Principal PMs. These seasoned ICs excel by tackling complex product challenges and driving strategy without the responsibilities of people management. Their focus on expertise and cross-functional collaboration makes them essential to organizational agility and customer-centricity.
For PMs, this evolution highlights the power of influence through mastery over hierarchy. Senior ICs act as architects of product vision and informal mentors, elevating teams through thought leadership and collaboration. At WP Engine, I often referenced
, a respected thought leader, who credits much of his sharp insight to his experience as a Senior IC rather than a manager.This trend reflects growing demand for specialized expertise in fields like AI, enterprise SaaS, and fintech, where innovation depends on deep knowledge. Senior IC PMs bridge strategy and execution, ensuring decisions align with customer needs and market realities while uniting engineering, design, and go-to-market teams.
Ultimately, this shift redefines career growth by valuing depth and mastery alongside leadership. As
explores in The Team That Managed Itself, true leadership stems from influence, not authority—an inspiring model for modern organizations and product teams alike.Senior and Principal PMs are capable of doing a lot, but some organizations push this too far. Let's stay vigilant and protect the human being behind it all - it’s about stretching and not straining … or breaking.-The Rise of the Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO)
The rise of the Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) reflects a push to unify product and technology leadership, streamlining decision-making while aligning two critical functions. Yet, this consolidation risks losing the creative tension between product and technology—a dynamic that fuels innovation and balanced decision-making.
A successful CPTO must internalize the debates and trade-offs once held between product and engineering leaders, maintaining impartiality while navigating complex priorities. This demands overcoming biases rooted in a leader’s background—whether in product or engineering—and resisting the pressures these biases can create.
For rising PM leaders, this trend requires becoming functional polyglots, fluent in business, product, and technology. It broadens career paths, encouraging leaders to explore opportunities beyond the traditional Chief Product Officer (CPO) role. Those less inclined toward technology leadership might consider roles like GM or operations-focused positions, leveraging their strategic expertise in new ways.
Ultimately, the CPTO model works best when leaders honor the tension between product and technology, fostering alignment and decisions that serve the greater good—delivering exceptional value to customers and the business.
-The Influence of AI
AI is no longer just a buzzword; it’s here, reshaping the product management landscape in profound ways. From automating repetitive tasks to providing data-driven insights for strategic decisions, AI is changing how PMs work. But for great PMs, using AI to boost efficiency isn’t the endgame—that’s just the baseline.
The real question is:
How can AI transform the way customers work and create new value for them?Great PMs are not simply leveraging AI to do their jobs better; they’re obsessively focused on how AI can solve their customers’ most pressing problems. By breaking down AI into its core capabilities—things like prediction, natural language processing, and pattern recognition—they reimagine workflows, rethink their product and unlock entirely new possibilities for their customers. Great PMs use AI to enable solutions that were previously unthinkable.
For PMs, the challenge is twofold. First, they must learn to use AI effectively to enhance their own productivity. This means understanding how to work smarter with tools that help streamline decision-making and execution. Second, they need to deeply embed AI into their product strategies, reimagining what’s possible and aligning it with customer needs.
Remember, AI isn’t here to replace product managers—at least not yet. Instead, it’s a powerful amplifier, helping PMs expand their impact and redefine their products’ value. The PMs who embrace this mindset won’t just keep up; they’ll lead the way.
So What Now?
Thriving in the Future of Product Management
I’ll start off with this, sadly 2025 is not a great year to be an associate or entry level PM. Many things are stacked up against your success, and the role you’ll be stepping into will, in many ways, be a shell of what product management really is. But this craft is not for the faint of heart, so ask for help and put in the work to grow - 2025 is not the year to phone anything in.
For PMs, Sr PMs, PM Leaders, Heads of Product - 2025 might feel a little like climbing uphill on a bike without gears, but here’s the thing: PMs are built for this kind of challenge.
To stay ahead, the great PMs must nail a few things that I’ll summarize as:
Become Irreplaceable
Lead with AI
Be a cross-functional polyglot
Get comfortable with change
I’ll dive into these in my next post.
Product Management isn’t just a job—it’s a craft, and like any craft, it evolves. That evolution is being exacerbated by external factors right now. So keep learning, keep adapting, and keep showing the world what PMs can do.
The road ahead may be rocky, with several unknowns, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that great PMs thrive in chaos. We navigate uncertainty, create clarity, and deliver value where others see obstacles. This isn’t a statement about PMs not doing enough, its a call to recognize the shift, and adjust to it … like water.
If you have observations of your own that I haven’t captured, I’d love to hear about them. I also think the community would, so comment here if you are up for it.
To the product leaders out there, my ask of you is to raise the bar on Product Management. It doesn't do our discipline, or the craft any good to keep Product Managers in roles when they are not succeeding. It truly is a vicious cycle and contributes to a questioning of what value Product Management delivers. I have stories and lessons learned from acing this bar-raising thing, and also from failing at it … but till next time.
Happy Building!
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The rise of the CPTO role is a new concept to me, however I can think of a couple persons I’ve seen excel at such a role. It begs the question if such a role’s popularity is favorable to Product managers or more for engineers?
@productgirl: I think it favors the tech PM or PMs and product who emerge from a tech background or have stayed close to the technology as they shaped their career. I do find that Engineering leaders who have a strong bent towards product, and actively care about how the things their teams build impact the business do well here too. I've encountered a few of them. and they are often humble and curious enough to learn the essence of product management or step away and let their PM leaders drive. I don't see the same on the other side. H