Product management is facing a crisis — and Dave Wascha calls it The Reckoning. In this episode, Dave joins Lily and Randy to unpack the growing backlash against the product profession. He shares stories from his time at Microsoft, Moonpig, and Zoopla, revealing why product people lost the room — and how to win it back.
Featured Links: Follow Dave on LinkedIn | 'Product Management is NOT dead' feature by Dan Olsen | 'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron Pratt
Chapters
1:50 – What is ‘The Reckoning’?
3:00 – The Origins of Product in Europe vs. US
6:00 – How We Lost the Commercial Plot
10:45 – Product’s Accountability Problem
17:00 – The Power of Empathy (Internally)
20:00 – Teaching PMs How Their Business Actually Makes Money
25:00 – The Dogma Trap of ‘Best Practice’
29:30 – Product-Market Fit for Product Managers Themselves
34:00 – What Good Looks Like Now
39:00 – Are There Just Too Many Product Managers?
42:00 – Escaping The Reckoning: Dave’s Final Tips
Key takeaways
