(2026-08-10) Cagan A Fresh Definition Of The Product Role

Martin Cagan: A Fresh Definition of The Product Role. I’ve seen at least one hundred different definitions of the product role.

Part of the problem is that there are different operating models that require different responsibilities and skills from the person playing the product role.

And part of the problem is that people seem to want a short catch phrase or pithy description that captures what’s important.

Asking a product person how they define their role can serve as a form of Rorschach test.
I’ve asked that question during interviews for literally decades. I don’t view this as a right or wrong question, but the candidate’s answer reveals so much about the product model they’ve worked in, why they think the role exists, and what that role contributes to a product team.

Just recently I read an article that was not even attempting to define the product role, and barely even mentioned the term “product,” yet it provided one of the best descriptions of the responsibilities and skills of a product manager in the AI era that I have ever seen.

The author is the technology industry analyst Benedict Evans.

The article is called “Most People Aren’t Tool Builders”, but it’s behind his paywall so unless you’re a subscriber you probably won’t be able to read it. However, he just recently discussed this article in a podcast that’s available outside the paywall. It’s twenty minutes very well spent, and I’d strongly encourage you to listen to this.

trying to explain why it is that just because customers may now have access to the tools and technology to create their own solutions (whether that’s vibe-coding an application, or automating their workflows with agents, or anything else), they are very unlikely to even try, and for those that do, they are unlikely to succeed.

Ben contrasts the skills and mindset of typical users and customers, with the skills and mindset of someone that’s strong at creating new tools or solutions.

Ben describes three distinct skills of effective product people

• First, lots of people recognize pain, and maybe have ideas for addressing that pain, but not everyone is able to see the more general problem to be solved behind that pain or idea
• Second, once a problem worth solving has been recognized, you need to have the skills to discover an effective solution to that problem. In Ben’s words, “People that are really good at using the tool are not the same people as those that are really good at creating the tool”
• Third, beyond discovering a strong solution that meets the needs of your customer, you also need to have the depth and breadth of understanding of your company to discover a solution that also works for your business

To map these points to concepts product people will recognize, Ben’s first point is referring to problem discovery, his second point is addressing the value risk in solution discovery, and his third point is addressing the viability risk of solution discovery.

About a year ago I published one of our most popular articles, The Era of the Product Creator in which I celebrated the arrival of these new tools that make the product creation process – discovery and delivery – so much better. (2026-05-27-CaganTheEraOfTheProductCreator)

That’s been maybe a little bit true, but not anywhere near what I had hoped for.
Ben is arguing that the issue isn’t the tools, it’s how the product person thinks

many product people today are thinking that their customers are going to use AI technologies the way that they are

He goes on to say: “AI makes it easy for anyone to build tools to automate their work… except most people and most companies aren’t tool-builders, don’t think like that, and can’t and won’t do that.

Ben’s article serves as a great reminder of why the product role is so essential, and is likely to remain essential.