Because I'm only working with software engineers and PMs I didn't read the article that negatively. I believe that when a product becomes big enough or its user

Because I'm only working with software engineers and PMs I didn't read the article that negatively. I believe that when a product becomes big enough or its user base becomes large it can be very hard to empathize with all your different kinds of customers and external users, and therefore it pays to have a dedicated function (PM, PMM, designers, researchers etc) that can help with that process. It also pays to have a dedicated groups who can help be a more central point for creating a coherent product roadmap (which everyone of course feed requirements into (and engineers help scope, rank etc.))