Scott Adams, in the back of "The Dilbert Principle," describes the OA5 model of running a company: Out at 5. His main goal was an efficient organization that let everyone out at 5, which meant the product was delivered, which meant everyone did a fantastic job, and other things that we all take for granted as being desirable.

One of his big points was that nobody should be doing anything more than 1 degree removed from the core mission. If you're a web host, you're either directly working on maintaining or supporting the service, or you're optimizing an internal process relating to the first two (as an example).

Otherwise, you're dead weight. The kind of product guy described in this article runs afoul of that OA5 principle.