In effect, subordinating product management
relegates it to a support role for the primary
goal of the department. Vice Presidents and
department heads have a natural inclination to
support their primary department’s role. The VP of
Development, primarily responsible for delivering
products, tends to use product managers as
project managers and Development gofers. The
VP of Marketing owns collateral, sales tools, lead
generation, and awareness programs. So this VP
often uses product managers as content providers
to Marketing Communications. And the VP of
Sales, focused on new sales revenue, uses product
managers to achieve that goal; product managers
become “demo boys and demo girls” who support
sales people one deal at a time.