Agile Replacing Product Management
Question: "You're missing the big picture. Agile is gradually replacing product management, and the product owner is replacing the product manager. Not so?"Not true. These beliefs occur only at software companies and only with Scrum.
Lightweight Software Development (rebranded as Agile in 2001) has been in existence since the 1960s and was never proclaimed as a replacement to product management. No cogent rationale for such a move can or was ever provided.
Scrum, a 1990s Agile method, includes a role with an arbitrary title of Product Owner, which should be named Backlog Manager more appropriately.
Early on, the product owner was indeed suggested to replace the product manager. This was mainly due to Scrum's ambiguity and product management misconceptions.
Later on, the product owner was touted as a role that the product manager occasionally plays in an Agile/Scrum environment.
Nowadays, there is recognition that the Product Manager role is wholly distinct from any product development role.
The big picture is that of growing SAFe and Kanban presence.
Scrum, although still popular, is declining and is no longer the default choice as an Agile method.