Product org culture degraded post-pandemic under director-level leadership
Pros
Any pros were overshadowed by a deteriorating culture in the product org
Cons
The product org used to have experienced, respectful leaders and a healthy culture. People felt heard and cross‑functional work was straightforward. After pandemic-era leadership changes, culture quickly degraded in my view: more politics, less clarity, and lower trust. One product director came to represent what many of us felt were the core issues: building a small inner circle where dissenting opinions were discouraged, decision‑making that often felt unfair and driven by favoritism, lack of transparency around decisions and context, and promises that weren’t followed through. The team felt very different, and the product org became more reactive and inconsistent, with little long‑term vision. I’ve heard that a new leader joined product org this year, and that director has since left the company. But I can only speak to how things felt during my time there.
