PMs are important, but for many projects it's not a full time job (having a PM that can write out things to build doesn't directly mean there's enough people to

PMs are important, but for many projects it's not a full time job (having a PM that can write out things to build doesn't directly mean there's enough people to build those things). In some orgs this leads the PMs to take on a half marketing role; that can end badly if this leads to the PM chasing whatever thing their latest customer / prospect interaction mentioned, rather than sticking to plans for long enough to get things to stabilize. Additionally, some times they can end up promising features and fixes on a schedule that isn't sustainable for engineering (but that largely depends on how the organization manages the work; this may not be in scope for a PM, in which case they're shouldn't be promising any sort of timelines).