In software, we often mistake the map for the territory ... and that's rich coming from someone who uses Wardley Mapping as his primary technology strategy tool. We treat features like finish lines, forgetting that a product is a temporary physical manifestation of intent, a vehicle designed to carry value from the realm of ideas into the hands of a user who does not know what they want and can only discover it by using the vehicle itself. This is because software is a sense-making instrument, not a delivered answer.
The true craft of product management lives within what the architect Christopher Alexander identified as "negative space." In his philosophy, the quality of a room is defined not just by the walls and the furniture (the positive objects), but by the shape of the space those objects allow people to inhabit.
I believe we shape our products through a similar lens. Beyond simply placing the "furniture" of features, we must carefully design the negative space between the code, the organization, and the passage of time. When we treat these gaps as our primary medium rather than as obstacles to be avoided, we move past the mechanical "shipping" game and enter the "value" game.
These are the five principles that define this territory.
1. Own the Narrative, Not Just the Logic
There's a popular industry belief that identifies the PM as the "CEO of the product", and I couldn't disagree more. To me, this metaphor shakes a little bit because product managers rarely possess the authority or resource control inherent in that title. Instead of claiming a false sovereignty over the product, a PM is more the CEO of the narrative. A PM is the Chief Storyteller.
Rationality provides the structural integrity in the team's decision-making process, while narrative is the fuel that powers the alignment that gives this team direction:
Narrative > Alignment > Direction > Value
Ultimately, a PM’s job is to build this "shared truth" that helps the team understand why we are moving. Without a story to connect the dots, a sudden change in strategy looks like a lack of vision. With a story, that same change looks like an evolution.
2. Build Systems, Don't Just Ship Features
In an infinite game, the objective is not to win but to keep playing. Product features are ephemeral, becoming deprecated the moment they are deployed. Instead, a PM's focus should be on building a system that can adapt and continue to solve problems for years to come, rather than judging a release by a binary "good or bad" label.
To play this infinite role, the PM acts as the primary driver who keeps the organizational flywheel spinning. By serving as the Chief Storyteller, the PM helps create a culture that reinforces its own momentum, where every success informs the next one and every failure strengthens the system's resilience. The goal is to design a culture that can keep building and delivering value over time, ensuring the vehicle of value never halts.
3. The Roadmap as a Strategic Inquiry
A product roadmap is not an engineering backlog. Managing a roadmap as a simple list of features risks turning product management into factory line supervision. As Kent Beck famously suggested, a product roadmap is a series of questions to be answered. Instead of "Build a Search Bar," the goal becomes: "How can we reduce the time it takes for a user to find a specific document?" This shifts the focus toward outcomes, and it gives the team the space to find the best answer, avoiding the trap of executing a predetermined and potentially flawed solution.
4. Architect the System of People
A PM's success lies in setting others up for their own success. This is because a PM, in my view, acts as a systems architect whose primary delivery is a sustainable "vehicle of value." This requires the deliberate design of a human system where alignment functions as a core engineering principle rather than an abstract interpersonal skill. By aligning incentives, communication loops, and objective goals, the PM creates a high-performance environment that operates with the precision of a finely tuned engine. When these organizational components are integrated correctly, the system produces high-quality outputs as a natural consequence of its design.
5. The Goal is Self-Obsolescence
A PM succeeds by evolving chaotic, uncharted challenges into repeatable utilities. In the evolution of any idea (i.e., moving from Genesis to Commodity in Wardley Mapping terms), a PM’s job is to move value up the chain. We take the chaotic, custom-built problems and turn them into repeatable, standard products. When a problem is solved so thoroughly that it becomes a utility, the need for active "product management" disappears. Therefore, a PM's goal is to solve their current challenges so well that they become unnecessary, allowing them to move on to the next frontier of chaos.
Closing Thought
Product management is the art of navigating uncertainty. It requires the humility to be wrong, the courage to lead without authority, and the wisdom to know that everything we build is just temporary.