SME's are NOT your default Product People!

Product Sensei
May 30, 2025
6 min read

The next time someone says,

“Let’s just make the SME the product owner,”

Respond with:

“Let’s also make sure they’re equipped to think like a product person.”

Leaving a SME to fend for themselves in the product world is like casting them out to sea...

Recently, I have been mentoring a colleague who has a program management role within a big healthcare company and is looking to transition into product. While not directly a product person, he has over a decade of experience working with product teams and has seen the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

One of his current concerns is a push from leadership to promote SME’s into senior product roles. My colleague is someone who has observed first-hand, the difference between product professionals who have learnt their craft ‘in the trenches’ vs ‘product leaders’ who have come in at a senior level without the ‘battle scars’ (his words, he is ex-military).

Unfortunately, as anyone who has been in product for a long time knows, this situation is not unique. It is all too common for leadership/management to think that a person who knows one system inside and out is naturally a product manager.

Worse still, SME’s are often shot straight to the senior product level, taking on lead/director level roles without ever having seen a product through from inception to delivery and beyond.

For my colleague, this means that data scientists, phD’s and medical doctor’s become Product director’s and whole programs of work are stalled, no one having the expertise to provide vision, strategy and actually execute. Worse still, those who do have the essential product skill set begin to leave (for my colleague, 15 product managers have left in the past 12 months). The cost to a business is significant and it could be avoided.

The insecure leader's call: ‘But we need experts’

The illusion of safety that comes from 'experts'. Who is actually doing the work though?

This is the cry, heard it a thousand times….

The problem with this? Yes we need experts/specialists/SME’s but these people inform the process, they do not own the process.

A wise mentor of mine once gave this analogy:

“Everyone has a basic understanding of how electricity works. In your home, those living there know where all of the light switches and power sockets are. They know how to turn on the oven, and that if they plug a lamp into a socket, they can get light to shine. They also know that if they stick a fork into the same socket, there will be pain…

This however DOES NOT mean that the same person knows how to wire a. house for those sockets, or that they know how their house is connected to the main power supply in the street, having someone within knowledge of how to go about installing electrics start installing them is a recipe for disaster”

The dismissive Leaders Call: “Product isn’t hard’

Sometimes, leaders dismiss the product profession as something anyone can do 'Let them eat cake' as a famous headless queen is rumoured to have said...

This I have also heard far too often from leadership in the past.

Product is the hardest role and delivery of software hinges on a product managers ability to understand the bigger picture, know all the moving parts and then hone in on priorities to ensure delivery can happen.

Grabbing a SME and throwing them into any product position (particularly a senior product position) is unfair to the poor. SME and, quite frankly, reckless on the part of the leader who thinks it is a good idea.

When software delivery is humming, it’s addictive. A as Product Manager, there is no better buzz than when product, engineering, and the business are all bouncing off of. Each other, supporting and challenging at the same time. As a product professional , the ability to step in as conductor, tying in all moving parts into the larger vision is absolute joy.

We cannot achieve this state though if we treat our product cohort like a rabble of siloed ‘experts’. There is a craft to learn and all too often this is ignored, bypassed or dismissed.

Here’s the core issue: businesses often confuse expertise with product thinking.

A system expert, team lead, or long-standing employee is tapped to “do product” because they know the system better than anyone else. Their title might not change immediately, but the expectation does: they’re now the go-to for roadmap questions, prioritisation, and user needs.

And just like that, a Subject Matter Expert becomes a Product Manager, in name only.

Let’s be clear:

Knowing a system inside out does not make someone a product leader.
It makes someone incredibly valuable, but it’s a different kind of value.

Here’s the core issue: businesses often confuse expertise with product thinking.

While SMEs and product people often work closely together, their roles are not interchangeable.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)	Product Manager (PM)
Knows the system, process, or domain	Understands the customer and the problem
Answers “how things work today”	Asks “what should we solve next—and why?”
Deep in operational knowledge	Deep in customer, market, and user insight
Focused on feasibility and function	Focused on value, outcomes, and experience

The SME is a guardian of what is.

The PM is a champion of what could be.

Both are crucial. But they’re not the same.

The Trap: Promoting SMEs Into Product Roles

To a business leader, it seems logical:

“They know the system, they’d be perfect to own the product.”

But product isn’t about system knowledge alone. It’s about:

Understanding human needs
Prioritising ruthlessly
Creating alignment across chaos
Leading without authority
Connecting business value with user outcomes

You don’t pick up those skills just by sitting next to the system for a few years.

When SMEs are thrown into product roles without proper support or development, everyone suffers:

The SME feels overwhelmed or stuck in execution mode
The team lacks strategic direction
Stakeholders are confused by the lack of true product leadership
The product becomes reactive instead of visionary

SMEs Can Become Great Product People

Here’s the good news: SMEs can make fantastic product professionals—if they’re willing to do the work.

Why? Because they often have:

Deep context and historical knowledge
Strong relationships with stakeholders
A genuine care for the customer or process

What they need to develop is the craft of product. That includes:

Learning how to say “no” strategically
Facilitating discovery, not just delivering requests
Leading through influence rather than technical expertise
Embracing ambiguity instead of seeking certainty
Valuing outcomes over output

Product isn’t something you inherit—it’s something you practice.

If You’re a Leader: Don’t Make This Mistake

Before assigning an SME to a product role, ask yourself:

Have they shown curiosity beyond their domain?
Do they understand user problems, not just technical solutions?
Can they prioritise based on impact, not just feasibility?
Are they open to learning product frameworks, strategy, and thinking?

If not, don’t set them up to fail. Offer mentorship. Provide training. Let them shadow a seasoned PM. Treat product as a craft, not a checkbox.

If You’re an SME Who’s Been Asked to “Be the PM”

Take a breath. You’re not alone.

This happens in orgs all the time, and you have a choice:

Stay as the SME—and be excellent in that space.
Transition to product—but treat it as a career shift, not just a new title.

If you choose the latter:

Read voraciously about product thinking.
Find a mentor who lives in ambiguity and customer focus.
Ask better questions—especially “why?”
Let go of being the expert. Learn to be the facilitator and above all, learn to challenge your own assumptions and thinking as it is going to be biased towards your current operational knowledge.

You don’t need to have all the answers. You need to help others find the right problems to solve.

The Bottom Line

Being a Subject Matter Expert is a valuable role. But it’s not the same as being a product person. Assuming they’re interchangeable is a fast track to frustration; for the business, the team, and the SME themselves.

Product is a mindset/discipline/craft. It can be learned but it isn’t just ‘inherited’ because you know the system.

so the next time someone says: