This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of Whatnot)

Overview

This episode features Tom Verrilli, Chief Product Officer at Whatnot, discussing his provocative stance on product management, the evolving role of PMs in the AI era, and how Whatnot structures its product team to maximize efficiency and innovation. Drawing on his experiences at Whatnot, Twitch, and Twitter, Tom shares insights on hiring, leadership, and the future of product management.

Notable Quotes

- Hiring so many PMs infantilizes the engineers and designers who are perfectly capable of making good decisions, but just never had to because there was always a PM to babysit them. — Tom Verrilli, on the overuse of product managers.

- If you were really successful as a PM, you got promoted into being a director. We took all of our A players and then promoted them out of doing things. — Tom Verrilli, on the pitfalls of traditional PM career progression.

- Averages mean nothing to the individual. — Tom Verrilli, on the dangers of relying solely on aggregate data in decision-making.

🛠️ Rethinking Product Management

- Whatnot’s product team operates on the principle of “regretting that product management exists,” emphasizing that PMs should only be hired when there’s a specific, critical need.

- Over-reliance on PMs can lead to engineers and designers losing the opportunity to develop decision-making skills.

- PMs should not be assigned to teams by default but rather to specific problems or projects. This approach allows engineers and designers to take ownership of decisions when possible.

🤖 The Role of AI in Product Management

- AI is reshaping the PM role by enabling faster decision-making and reducing reliance on traditional data science and engineering resources.

- Tools like Hex allow PMs to pull nuanced data and build models without needing constant support from data scientists.

- AI also empowers senior PMs to work more efficiently, reducing the need for large teams and enabling a shift toward smaller, more agile groups.

👩‍💻 The Shift Toward Senior ICs

- Whatnot emphasizes senior individual contributors (ICs) over traditional hierarchical structures. Senior PMs and even VPs are expected to spend significant time doing hands-on work.

- This approach allows experienced leaders to make faster, more informed decisions and reduces the inefficiencies of excessive alignment meetings.

- Tom likens this to having “Messi playing for your team rather than coaching from the sidelines.”

🎹 The Play the Accordion Mental Model

- Tom uses the analogy of playing an accordion to describe the iterative process of product development:

- Stretch out (zoom out) to understand the broader problem and implications.

- Compress (zoom in) to execute a focused solution.

- Repeat the process to refine and adapt based on new learnings.

- This approach balances strategic planning with rapid iteration, avoiding the pitfalls of over-planning or aimless experimentation.

🏗️ Building a High-Impact Product Team

- Tom challenges the “hire great people and get out of their way” philosophy, advocating for leaders to stay deeply involved in the details.

- He emphasizes the importance of leadership being connected to the ground truth, working alongside teams to ensure alignment and effective decision-making.

- Whatnot’s planning process involves reassigning PMs every six months to focus on high-priority problems, fostering adaptability and cross-functional expertise.

📉 Lessons from Twitter

- Tom reflects on his time at Twitter, noting that even with product-market fit, weak leadership can stall progress.

- He highlights the years-long delay in lifting the 140-character limit as an example of leadership’s reluctance to make tough decisions.

- His key takeaway: “Most of the time you hear it’s really complex, it isn’t. Leadership’s just weak.”