When “craft” is responsible, but not empowered

Steve Jobs said the best managers never wanted to be managers — they were just obsessed with the work.

He believed craft creates leaders.
In reality, power often goes to everyone but the people closest to the craft.

PMs and Engineering own the roadmap, the timelines, and in some cases even the outcome.

Meanwhile, the people shaping the experience from the vaguest specs — sweating the smallest details and fighting for taste when “good enough” usually ships — don’t ask for power.

They ask for space.


To push the craft, to raise the bar, to give the product a pulse.

And that’s the paradox.
The outcomes other stakeholders are held accountable for aren’t just experienced through features, roadmap, or delivery dates.

They’re experienced in seconds — through clarity, flow, emotion, and the subtle cues that make a product feel worth returning to.

Those moments are designed.

So perhaps the people shaping the experience should be empowered to shape the outcome too.