But neither the market nor elections gets the right answer either in terms of "correct" or "legitimate".

this book covers the head space you are in ("homo sap has gotten in over his head") and you should read it now:

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Fun-at-Work-Livingston/dp/093706...

Personally I think KPIs (particularly when you are asking the question "how do I adopt KPIs") are toxic.

In a non-startup company there is generally one bottleneck that holds the organization back and has to be controlled

https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0...

In a startup company or if you are trying to develop a "revolutionary" product there are usual several bottlenecks that need to be attacked. For instance going to the moon you have to solve problems from a list such as

  * propulsion
  * navigation
  * life support

if you are looking at a 10% improvement you need to find the one bottleneck (e.g. "The Goal") if you need to get a 10x improvement you will hit several bottlenecks on the way there and the writings of W.L. Livingston apply

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Fun-at-Work-Livingston/dp/093706...

When you use goals to "destroy the competition" or "change the world", goals are a powerful technique. If you are setting goals because somebody told you to set goals or somebody else sets goals you are going to drive yourself to distraction.

This

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Fun-at-Work-Livingston/dp/093706...

is a manifesto for "small groups" to solve hard problems.

see https://www.amazon.com/Have-Fun-at-Work-Livingston/dp/093706... and https://www.amazon.com/Friends-High-Places-W-Livingston/dp/0... for practical applications of Ashby thinking.

See

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Fun-at-Work-Livingston/dp/093706...

it has a checklist to answer your question.

I am not so sure it is either/or. Probably your product/business people are as concerned about the success of your product as you are, so if you bring up this issue that communication is a problem, maybe they'll be responsive.

Working across time zones require some adaptation. Often I have meetings at 8am in the morning with people in Europe and Asia, sometimes I have meetings at 8pm at night. If you have a few people who do liasoning on each side, they could each shift schedules by 1 hour and then you have a three hour overlap. You can get better at written communications, there really are a lot of options.

Definitely when you can't get in the face of a "product manager" there are some people who really won't do the job, and sometimes they won't if you can get in their face.