The archetype of a product manager evolves with the needs of the market. When the core driver of innovation and opportunity has been technical, then more‐technical PMs have been in favor. When mobile emerged as the next frontier, PMs with design sensibility who could build apps which could overcome the low switching costs of an App Store were prized. When the innovation frontier shifted to operations (think transportation, real estate, hospitality, grocery delivery), we came full circle to value the business orientation necessary for a PM‐as‐a‐general manager.
