When interpreted in the context of Wardley Mapping, the phrase "the job of product managers is to kill their jobs" can be understood as a reflection of the evolution of products or services in a market. According to Simon Wardley's principles, products and services go through a lifecycle that includes stages like Genesis, Custom Built, Product, and Commodity/Utility.
In the early stages of this lifecycle (Genesis, Custom Built), a product is new, innovative, and often requires significant input and customization. This is where product managers play a crucial role in shaping and guiding the development of these novel products. They deeply understand customer needs, adjust the product, and iterate it based on feedback and market conditions.
However, as the product matures and moves towards the Product and then the Commodity/Utility stage, it becomes more standardized and widespread. The focus shifts from innovation to efficiency, cost reduction, and scale. In these stages, the role of product management changes significantly. The need for constant innovation and high-touch management reduces as the product becomes more of a commodity and less differentiated in the market.
Explorers, Villagers, and Town Planners
This idea of PMs killing their jobs can be further explained through Simon Wardley's concept of Explorers, Villagers, and Town Planners (EVTP). These three groups represent different skills and behaviors necessary at various stages of product evolution, as outlined in the Wardley Map lifecycle stages (Genesis, Custom Built, Product, Commodity/Utility).
- Explorers: In the early stages of a product's lifecycle (Genesis, Custom Built), Explorers play a crucial role. They are innovators and risk-takers, focused on exploring uncharted territories and developing new ideas. Product managers in this phase act as Explorers, constantly experimenting and iterating to find product-market fit.
- Villagers: As the product evolves and moves into the Product stage, Villagers take over. Villagers excel at growing and scaling products. They take the innovative concepts from the Explorers and turn them into reliable, more fully-featured products. In this phase, the role of the product manager shifts from exploring to settling – they optimize, improve, and prepare the product for a broader market.
- Town Planners: When the product reaches the Commodity/Utility stage, it's the realm of the Town Planners. Here, the focus is on efficiency, standardization, industrialization, and cost reduction. The product is mature and widely accepted in the market. The role of product management here changes significantly – it's less about innovation and more about maintaining and incrementally improving a well-established product.
Evolve or die
In Wardley Mapping terms, this overall idea implies that the ultimate goal of a product manager is to evolve their product to a point where it becomes highly standardized and commoditized. Therefore, when Product Managers guide a product through its lifecycle, they are essentially moving it from a stage that requires exploring innovation to a stage where it becomes a standardized commodity. At this stage, the product is so well understood and optimized that it requires minimal oversight and innovation, effectively reducing the need for the traditional role of a product manager as it was in the earlier stages.
This is not to suggest that the product manager becomes obsolete, but rather that their role evolves to focus on different aspects, such as managing a portfolio of products or looking for the next innovation. This progression effectively "kills" their initial job as innovators (Explorers) and transforms it into something different, either as Villagers or Town Planners. Therefore, "killing their jobs" metaphorically means evolving their roles to adapt to the changing nature of the product as it moves along its lifecycle, as depicted in a Wardley Map.