I’ve seen what happens when a product manager turns into a message relay. Engineers get stuck waiting for answers. Decisions drag. Soon, teams skip the PM and talk straight to stakeholders. It works for one sprint, but not for building real products or real teams.
A PM isn’t a ticket dispatcher. You need your PM to set the context, bring clarity, and own why the work matters. Without that, engineers drift. They lose connection to users and the bigger picture. The work becomes a checklist, not a mission.
We broke out of this at my company by opening up the lines. Engineers talk to user researchers, see customer feedback firsthand, and ask their own tactical questions. This frees up PMs to do what they should: dig deep into user pain, define product direction, and act as champions for the “why.” Now, PMs don’t block the flow—they supercharge it.
You fix this by shifting PMs from information gatekeepers to context enablers. That’s how you turn a team of ticket-takers into actual product owners who care about what they build.