Author here. I was a PM for a great part of my 21 years at Microsoft. I'm quite sure I am "spectacularly" oversimplifying things. That was intentional. Here's

Author here. I was a PM for a great part of my 21 years at Microsoft. I'm quite sure I am "spectacularly" oversimplifying things. That was intentional. Here's the problem, related to this specific post, which is about mediocre reviews: A SDE's job can be measured far more objectively than most other roles in a software company. PM's, specifically, have an additional challenge in that what they do is extremely hard to measure. But don't get me wrong, I was not trying to diminish the importance of the other roles in creating great products.