Mark & Joel,

Very informative interview. I’ve been a fan of Joel’s blog posts for years.

Your discussion of product managers didn’t really answer the question, though it was interesting. I’ll be more blunt. I think that Google and Facebook’s biggest failings come from not having real product managers.

Let me explain. There’s no denying that they’re both hugely successful. But if you look at many of their “products” they’re really pathetic. There appears to be nobody like Steve Jobs in there ensuring that the user experience is any good. They just dump crappy products out the door and hope that they’ll stick. If they do, then they keep supporting them, otherwise, they kill them. You guys did touch on that – the poor support of products in the Googleplex.

If you want “great” products, you need somebody (a product manager) who is looking out for the UX. They’re bridging the gap between programmer and user. They’re fighting the battles to get funding and marketing for the product and ensuring that the developers make the product behave in a way that consumers want.

I guarantee, if you look at every “great” product, you’re going to find someone acting as a product manager. In a tiny startup, that might be the CEO/head developer. They’ve got their vision for the product and they devote their life to it. They evangelize it. They dogfood it and make sure the product is amazing.

Now look at the crappy products. They don’t have the backing of the company. They’re somebody’s pet project. Maybe they’ve pulled a couple people into it to hack with them. But is the company behind it? Is it an integral part of the corporate strategy? Is there somebody (with some corporate sway) passionate about making it happen? You need that or it’s going to die on the vine.

I love gmail. I use Facebook. But I hate most of the other stuff these companies put out. They’re just so lame and poorly supported. Take Facebook Causes. I’ve tried that several times and frankly, it sucks so bad that I went back to WordPress and created blogs. And yet millions of people use Causes. But imagine how great it could be if FB put some real engineering talent behind it and gave it corporate commitment. Instead, it’s forever a minimal viable product.

Until these companies get it, they’re going to keep churning out MVP crap and Steve Jobs will keep producing great products and others, like Foursquare will eat their lunch.

nice chat! & pls improve the sound. I have to watch this episode with earphones plus fool myself by going closer to the screen to hear better. Best!

ok sound isnt that bad. right now, at my place it´s actually fine ;)

I enjoyed your article, considering it relates to a financial matter. I follow Danny Wettreich online, he’s a famous, popular and venture capitalist in this world.