Enter The Product Purpose Guardian Era

We are not in the product creator era. We are in the product purpose guardian era.

The definitions of product manager are outdated. The classic definition was the definition from Marty Cagan, in which he says that the product manager has the responsibility for the product to be valuable and viable. He reinforced this definition this year in the article "The Era of the Product Creator."

But this is not what we need right now. What we need right now is the product purpose guardian.

Technology has increased exponentially its reach and impact and is woven into society's fabric. If before, these definitions were okay-ish for when technology was websites and more or less innocuous apps and gadgets, now that technology has this much power in shaping people's lives, we need more than ever a new definition of product manager—one that takes into account the most needed skill, action, and attitude: to question and defend the product's purpose.

When I'm talking about purpose, I'm considering purposeful those products that address the world's most pressing problems. And if you have doubts about what are the world's most pressing problems, you can check out the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The role of product purpose guardian is vacant. There is nobody really trying to ensure that the product doesn't deviate from its purpose, assuming that the purpose is positive and is contributing to solve or mitigate these types of problems.

Also, AI is further blurring the boundaries between the roles within product teams. If before there was already some confusion at times between the role of product manager and product designer in voicing the voice of the users and their needs, now with fast prototyping tools such as Lovable, the boundaries with the roles of developers are also being blurred.

So in all this confusion, the thing that will bring clarity is to occupy the vacant role: the role of product purpose guardian.

Also, it's less important who does what when there is an overarching purpose that everyone in the team is trying to fulfill. So if we hold that purpose very clearly, then the territorial disputes will matter less.

So join me in the new era, the era of the product purpose guardian.

Of course, I don't want to put the product manager in another scapegoat position. If in the previous definitions of making the product manager accountable for the value of the product and the viability was already putting the product manager responsible for things she doesn't fully control, now if you go and try to be a product purpose guardian for a company that doesn't have a purpose or is not committed to a purpose, considering purpose this very specific definition of addressing the world's most pressing problems, then you will end up again in a position where you'll have accountability for things you don't control. And that's a very toxic position to be in.

So there is this clear requirement: if you are considering this next iteration of the product manager role, you must be working in a purposeful tech company. If you clear that requirement, then I think you can start this conversation about the product purpose guardian role.

But this is definitely the era I think we should be entering: the product purpose guardian era.