To make a good product for customer, and to make money.

The roads ahead for product management may be some of the most morally complex in what is becoming an increasingly capitalist world.

This year has already been distraught with the controversy of AI art, the ticketmaster Taylor Swift fiasco, and whatever we want to describe Twitter as.

They say the job of a product manager is to be a CEO of a development team and that means maximizing the value of the product we build with the money we put into it.

This has lead to increasing the importance of financial success of products over making good products, especially so in the digital world where it’s largely winner-take-all. This has been exceptionally clear if you look at the biggest technology companies. This is increasingly more dangerous in brand loyal markets in Western countries.

Even major free applications like Discord or free video games by Riot Games and recent hit game maker Hoyoverse are not free from the criticism and growing negativity around chasing profits.

Corporate has the words “the goal is to make money” engraved in for the sake of their shareholders. It’s visible in Twitter’s paid verification checkmarks; Ticketmaster’s fees on both initial sales and resales; and in the power to let regular people generate the art they want.

The growing criticism is making the importance of being a good product for consumers more apparent and this may be a spark that affects technology companies in unexpected ways.

As we watch Netflix’s negative skid and the layoffs surrounding technological giants in a slowing economy, we may be at a precipice where success is dictated by building better products for customers instead of chasing profits. Or we might not be.

Perhaps it’s in the hands of customers, or in the hands of product people worldwide. Only time will tell.