Product management is shifting from an external focus on the market (what are the problems that need to be solved), or an internal focus on technology (how to solve it), to an empathetic focus on people (how to build an emotional connection with the people to create products that do more than “solve problems.”).
There is an interesting debate around these topics and here is a list of few articles written by Jon Kolko (president of Design at Blackboard) worth reading:

– http://www.jonkolko.com/writingLean.php
– https://hbr.org/2015/04/a-process-for-empathetic-product-design
– http://www.jonkolko.com/projectFiles/preso/kolko_2014_03_product.pdf