When It *Is* the Product Team’s Fault
Recognizing Where Things Fall Apart
In my last article, I discussed how CEOs and founders often misunderstand the role of product management, leading to misplaced frustration when things don’t go as planned. I received some fair feedback from the community, pointing out that I made it sound like it’s never the product team’s fault. Touché! While it's true that leaders often fail to understand what Product delivers, there are absolutely moments when the product team itself is dropping the ball.
So let’s talk about it! There are real, tangible reasons why product teams do deserve the blame at times. And recognizing those signs can help prevent a downward spiral of misalignment, frustration, and lack of execution.
Here's how to figure out if your frustration SHOULD be placed on the Product team:
1. Product Isn’t on Top of Things
If you ask a Product leader what the priorities are and they aren't sure, the Product team isn’t driving clarity across the organization, and you’ve got a problem. Product managers are the central hub of communication for cross-functional teams. They should be deeply aware of what’s happening across engineering, marketing, and sales. If you, as a CEO or founder, are feeling like the Product team can’t articulate what the company is building, what’s currently in development, or what the next priority should be—there’s a gap.
It’s the product team’s responsibility to:
- Own the roadmap: A product manager should always know what the top priorities are. If they don’t have a clear sense of the big-picture goals and can’t communicate them effectively, it’s going to result in confusion and misalignment across the entire organization.
- Bridge the gap between teams: The product team must ensure that engineering knows what they’re building and why. They also need to align with marketing on the messaging for upcoming releases and with sales to help them understand what’s coming down the pipeline. If you have marketing putting out materials that don’t match the product’s current features, or sales making promises about things that don’t exist, the Product team is either being ignored or not keeping everyone aligned.
It’s not enough to be reactive—Product has to lead the charge. Without that, it doesn’t matter how hard the rest of the teams are working. If the product team isn’t clear on the priorities, nobody else can be either.
2. Messages Aren’t Making It Across the Organization
Even if the Product team has their priorities straight, they need to ensure that everyone else is on the same page. Product isn’t just responsible for creating clarity within their own team—they need to ensure that the rest of the company has access to the information they need to operate effectively.
When communication breaks down, the ripple effects are hard to miss:
- Marketing launches off-key campaigns: If the marketing team doesn’t understand the vision for the product, their materials may be out of touch with what’s actually being built or what the market really needs.
- Sales targets don’t align with the product roadmap: If sales teams are being left in the dark, they might be pushing outdated features or focusing on selling to the wrong audience altogether. That’s wasted effort, and worse, it can create a disconnect between the promises made to customers and the actual value delivered.
- Engineering is confused about priorities: If engineering is guessing about what to build next or doesn’t understand the “why” behind what they’re building, the output might be technically good and still strategically misaligned.
If the Product team isn’t making sure that critical information is shared across the organization, teams can end up working in silos, and miscommunication starts to creep in. But here’s the nuance: even if the communication breakdown seems like it’s happening in marketing or sales, it’s often Product’s role to connect the dots and be the source of that information, or highlight what isn't happening.
3. Product Doesn’t Understand What Customers Want (or Why it Matters)
Product’s number-one job is to know the customer better than anyone else. If the product team can’t articulate who the customer is, what their pain points are, and what they value most, the entire organization is going to flounder.
A few clear red flags that this is happening:
- There’s no clear prioritization of features: If everything seems equally important, or if decisions are being made based on what’s easy to build rather than what’s most impactful for the customer, the product team has lost touch with its purpose. Every feature or development effort should tie back to the customer’s needs and the company's strategic goals.
- Feedback isn’t influencing the roadmap: When a product team truly understands their customer, they’re gathering, analyzing, and acting on feedback constantly. If there’s no clear channel for customer insights, and the product roadmap seems disconnected from real user problems, that’s a failure on Product’s part.
Understanding the customer goes beyond just collecting feedback; it means understanding why certain features or pain points matter and how to prioritize solving them. If Product doesn’t have this clarity, it’s impossible for them to make the right calls.
4. Product Doesn’t Understand the Technology (or Why it’s Valuable)
While product teams don’t need to be technical experts, they absolutely need to understand the technology they’re working with and why it delivers value. Without this understanding, they’re going to struggle to articulate the product’s value proposition, prioritize features effectively, or communicate with engineering in a meaningful way.
Some warning signs:
- Technology feels underutilized: If Product isn’t capitalizing on the unique strengths of your tech stack, that’s a missed opportunity. It’s not enough to build what’s easiest; Product should be thinking strategically about how the technology can deliver differentiated value to the customer.
- There’s friction with engineering: If the product team doesn’t grasp the technical implications of their requests, it can lead to friction with engineering. Unrealistic timelines, confusing requirements, and misaligned priorities all stem from a product team that doesn’t fully understand what’s happening under the hood.
A strong product team knows how to translate the technical capabilities of the product into real, tangible value for customers. If they can’t do that, it’s a huge missed opportunity—and that’s squarely on Product.
When Product Fails, It’s Not Always Just Misalignment
Product teams aren’t invincible, and there are plenty of times when the breakdown isn’t just about misaligned leadership or expectations—it’s about a failure to execute on the basics of Product Management. Product leaders should be asking themselves tough questions regularly:
- Does my team have a handle on the top priorities?
- Are we effectively communicating with every part of the organization?
- Do we truly understand our customers’ needs and how to address them?
- Are we leveraging our technology to its full potential?
When the answers to those questions are murky, it’s a sign that the product team is struggling to deliver in the ways that matter most.
How to Get Product Back on Track
If you’re seeing these issues crop up in your organization, here’s what you (or your Product Leader) can do to fix them:
Re-establish core Product values:
Ensure the entire organization understands the value that Product brings and sets realistic expectations for the team’s output. A key part of this is making sure Product receives the right inputs to function effectively. Clear communication, feedback loops, and strategic alignment between Product and other departments—engineering, marketing, sales, and customer success—are essential. Product teams need actionable, cross-functional input to define priorities that make an impact, along with clear expectations aligned with the value they provide. Without the right collaboration and expectations, even the best Product team will struggle to deliver real value.
Re-establish customer focus:
If Product seems disconnected from the customer, it’s time to get back to basics. Set up regular customer interviews, gather insights, and ensure decisions are driven by what customers actually need—not just internal priorities. This focus is critical for maintaining relevance and delivering solutions that resonate with the market.
Empower Product to lead:
Product must be in the driver’s seat when it comes to setting and communicating priorities. If they lack the authority to make strategic decisions or align teams, silos will naturally form. Empower your Product team to make tough calls and ensure they are the go-to source for clarity. Without this, execution becomes fragmented, and strategic alignment suffers.
Close the technology gap:
If the Product team doesn’t fully understand the tech stack, prioritize cross-training and deeper collaboration between Product and engineering. A well-informed product team that understands both the capabilities and limitations of the technology will be far more effective in delivering value that aligns with business goals and customer needs.
Yes, sometimes the product team is unfairly blamed for organizational issues they don’t control. But it’s also true that when Product isn’t functioning at full capacity, the impact is felt across the entire organization. Recognizing the signs of a failing product team and addressing those gaps is critical to getting back on track.