4 minute read
LinkedIn replaced its associate product manager program with an associate builder track. Paul Young and Clarke Smithe, our product instructors and industry leaders, talk about the what the repercussions of flattening product roles could be and why your org should think twice before following suit.
Before You Restructure, Consider This
In today’s AI-accelerated product world, one message continues to ring loud and clear: Do more with less. Fewer handoffs. Smaller teams. Faster delivery.
That message is starting to reshape how some organizations approach team structure. One recent example comes from LinkedIn, which is replacing its Associate Product Manager program with a new “Associate Product Builder” track. This role is designed to combine product management, design, and coding into a single function, with AI filling in the gaps.
This caught the attention of Pragmatic Institute instructors Paul Young and Clark Smith, who work closely with product professionals across industries every week. They’ve seen firsthand how structural changes affect the ability of teams to stay market-driven and focused on the right outcomes.
Their take? You may want to think twice. Here’s why.
The Case for Combining Product Roles
There’s a certain appeal to a flatter structure. In theory, a cross-functional generalist can move faster, own more, and avoid the delays that sometimes come with handoffs between product, design, and engineering.
But when our instructors looked closer at what this change means in practice, they saw risks that deserve serious consideration.
What’s Lost When You Collapse Product, Design, and Engineering
Product, design, and engineering each bring different skills and perspectives. In strong teams, those differences create productive tension that helps ensure quality decisions and thoughtful trade-offs.
“The different roles of product, design, and engineering exist for a reason,” Paul Young said. “When you put all that under one hat, that creative tension disappears. One of those perspectives will win, and it’s going to be engineering, because building is measurable [in the short term].”
That shift can lead teams to focus on speed over alignment. “All this is going to do is make you faster at building the wrong stuff,” he added.
Paul also cautioned against assuming what works in one type of business will work in another. “If you’re building a B2C social networking platform like LinkedIn, maybe this works. But most of you aren’t building that,” he said. “Most of you are building B2B products. This is the wrong call.”
Time Pressure Doesn’t Go Away
Even dedicated product managers struggle to find time for real market conversations. Between stakeholder demands, internal fire drills, and roadmap pressure, carving out hours to talk to users takes discipline and commitment.
“We hear it all the time from product teams. It’s already hard to make time for consistent user conversations,” said Clark Smith. “Now imagine someone is also responsible for coding and design on top of that.”
He added, “Human nature will push you to build the thing you can show, not take the time to uncover insights that may not materialize until the sixth or seventh conversation.”
That’s not just a bandwidth issue. It’s a shift in what gets prioritized and what gets left behind.
Ask the Right Questions First
This isn’t a question of whether combining roles is right or wrong necessarily. It’s about what you’re optimizing for. Before you restructure, ask:
- What problem are we actually trying to solve?
- Are we removing friction, or removing important perspectives?
- Do we still have a clear way to protect the voice of the market?
- Can this model support the kind of decisions we want to be known for?
Good Structure Supports Good Decisions
Flattened roles might look efficient. But efficiency is only helpful when it’s paired with sound judgment and an eye toward business goals. The best product organizations aren’t just fast. They’re disciplined. They make space for disagreement. They structure their teams to catch blind spots before they show up in the market.
“Do you want to be the company that builds a bunch of stuff and sees what sticks?” Paul asked. “Or the one that listens first, makes deliberate decisions, and builds with purpose?”
Before you flatten your roles, make sure you’re not flattening your perspective. Your product’s success depends on it.
