I have seen cases of companies that focus on recruiting seniors that get a lot of product responsibility and can quickly find solutions since they see the customer/product view and also will have a good feeling for how to and in which order to best deliver things in code. So after talking to a customer about a problem, you just go and "talk" to the computer about the solution and get it out of the way quickly..
I have also seen cases of companies where you have one PM, one PO and one Team Lead to manage a group of four developers. In that case developers are seen more as translators.
My view of looking at this now is it is a bit like learning a language. Code is the tool you use to talk to a computer.
If you need to close a deal in a country where English is not spoken, do you prefer to send a businessperson who knows the language, or do you send a businessperson + a translator?
I much prefer companies where those who know how to code can still fill more of the product/business role than be seen as translators. However I realize it is hard to find people who know both and may be easier to recruit a combination business/product people who happen to not speak code, and translators who happen to speak code.
This is perhaps also the open secret about startups: People speaking the language of computers without being limited by their role to act as translators.
I have also seen cases of companies where you have one PM, one PO and one Team Lead to manage a group of four developers. In that case developers are seen more as translators.
My view of looking at this now is it is a bit like learning a language. Code is the tool you use to talk to a computer.
If you need to close a deal in a country where English is not spoken, do you prefer to send a businessperson who knows the language, or do you send a businessperson + a translator?
I much prefer companies where those who know how to code can still fill more of the product/business role than be seen as translators. However I realize it is hard to find people who know both and may be easier to recruit a combination business/product people who happen to not speak code, and translators who happen to speak code.
This is perhaps also the open secret about startups: People speaking the language of computers without being limited by their role to act as translators.