The author reflects on the distinction between product managers (PM) and product owners (PO) after consulting an AI for clarification, emphasizing the importance of simplicity in roles to stay close to the customer.
Based on the author's experience at Amazon, where there were no intermediaries between those framing the problem and those solving it, simplicity in roles embedded customer understanding into every position and decision-making process.
The article highlights that in enterprise and operations technology, overly splitting product roles can dilute ownership and weaken the connection to customer needs, suggesting that clear ownership should be prioritized over title proliferation.
The conclusion emphasizes the importance of fewer, stronger roles to maintain proximity to customers, encouraging digital and engineering leaders to focus on customer understanding, quality of products, and effective decision-making for organizational success.