So you want a career in Product Management?
Product management could be exactly the type of career you’re looking for. There are many different paths to becoming a product manager…
Product management could be exactly the type of career you’re looking for. There are many different paths to becoming a product manager, but I won’t focus on those in too much detail here. For those in the early stages of deciding if this is the career for you, I want to provide a high-level overview and debunk some of the myths and hype around this elusive role.
Don’t get caught up in the hype
Working as a Product Manager (PM) is not all sunshine and rainbows. This role often involves doing work that no one else wants to do, such as aligning difficult stakeholders, taking meeting notes, writing documents, creating reports, and being stuck in meetings all day. Although you’re not directly involved in building the product, you’re held 100% responsible for the results while being fully reliant on the teams around you (the teams you don’t manage) to follow through on your plan.
I think the lack of authority is often under-communicated, which is why I emphasize it here. You may have heard the term “mini CEO of the product,” but be warned, this is a fallacy. The CEO has the power to fire, hire, and make overriding decisions on pretty much everything. As a Product Manager, you’re often powerless to do anything without buy-in from at least one other person… either the people doing the work or the person managing those teams.
However, it’s not hopeless. If you’re a good communicator, well-organized, and great at getting alignment, you can be the one that connects all the dots and keeps things moving as if it were a well-choreographed and rehearsed ballet.
Some common misconceptions
“I need a technical background to become a product manager”: Although having some technical knowledge can be helpful, product management primarily involves understanding the needs of the market and the end user, and making strategic decisions based on that information. Effective communication with technical teams is important, but it does not necessarily require deep technical expertise. While some product management roles may be more technical than others, an engineering background is not critical for every role.
“I need an MBA to become a product manager”: While an MBA can be helpful in some cases, it is not necessary to become a product manager. Many successful product managers, including myself, come from diverse educational backgrounds. These include engineering, design, marketing, analytics, and even psychology.
“Product management is all about creating and implementing product ideas”: While ideation and implementation are important parts of product management, the role also involves a significant amount of strategic planning, data analysis, and stakeholder management.
“Product management is all about being a visionary leader”: While vision and leadership are important qualities for a product manager, the role also involves a significant amount of tactical execution, project management, and stakeholder communication.
“Product management is a glamorous job”: While product management can be an exciting and rewarding role, it also involves a lot of hard work, long hours, and the ability to handle high-pressure situations. It requires a lot of collaboration with cross-functional teams, and a strong focus on delivering results.
“Product managers make all the decisions”: While product managers play a crucial role in making product-related decisions, they do not make all the decisions. Product management involves collaborating with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, marketing, and sales, to gather input and make informed decisions that align with business goals.
“Product managers only work on new products”: While product managers often work on new products, they also manage existing products and features, and are responsible for ensuring their continued success through ongoing iteration and improvement.
“Product management is a solo job”: While product managers have a high level of responsibility, they are not working alone. Effective product management requires strong collaboration with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, including engineers, designers, marketers, sales teams, and executives. Product managers need to be able to build and maintain strong relationships with these teams in order to be successful.
Still want to be a product manager?
Find your own path and ask for help
Your first Product Manager role won’t just appear out of nowhere. Being a PM requires initiative, and your first PM role may require some strategic mapping of your current skills, along with filling gaps where you need to. PM is such a diverse role that it’s unlikely you’ve acquired every skill if you’ve stuck with a single career until now.
Here are some initial tips to get you started:
Think like a product manager: Examine your current position/situation and plan your path forward. Everyone’s journey is unique, but you can start thinking like a product manager today.
Map out and roadmap your path forward: Product management involves creating roadmaps and building a product in an iterative and progressive manner. Apply the same approach to your career plan.
Fill skills gaps: Take advantage of opportunities within your current role to lead projects, communicate with stakeholders, gather and report on data, and perform other tasks that align with the responsibilities of an ideal product management role.
Leverage your industry knowledge: Product Management comes in many variations. If you come from an engineering, analytics, design, or marketing background, you can find roles that focus on those areas.
1. Think like a Product Manager
Product management is as much a mindset as much as it’s a role. Chances are you can start with a Product Management mindset now in your current role, a side project you have, or by applying these skills to your own life.
See my developing a product management mindset post for more detail on that topic.
Being a successful Product Manager requires a diverse set of skills, including collaboration, communication, decision-making, data analysis, innovation, and technical knowledge.
2. Map out your roadmap
Conducting market research: As a Product Manager, it’s important to understand the market, including customer needs, preferences, and behaviour. A data analyst can leverage their skills to conduct market research, analyze customer data, and gather insights that can inform product strategy.
Defining product metrics: As a Product Manager, it’s important to define product metrics that measure the success of the product. A data analyst can leverage their skills to identify and define the right metrics to track, and use data analysis to monitor and measure progress against those metrics.
Analyzing user feedback: A data analyst can leverage their skills to analyze user feedback, including surveys, user interviews, and product reviews, to gain insights into customer needs and preferences. This feedback can be used to inform product decisions and prioritize product features.
Developing data-driven product roadmaps: A data analyst can leverage their skills to develop data-driven product roadmaps, using data analysis to identify market trends, customer needs, and competitive landscape to inform the product roadmap.
3. Fill skills gaps
It’s important to be proactive and find opportunities to fill in any skills gaps. Consider taking online courses or attending workshops to develop skills in areas like project management, data analysis, and stakeholder communication where you’ve identified a gap.
You can also look for opportunities within your current role to take on additional responsibilities that align with the responsibilities of a product manager, such as leading projects or gathering and reporting on data. Remember, there’s no one “right” path to becoming a product manager, so don’t be afraid to create your own path and seek help and guidance along the way.
4. Leverage your industry knowledge
If you’re wanting to get into a product management role, it might be easiest to do that within your existing industry. There are a lot of PMs to compete with during the hiring process, but how many of them understand the intricacies of restaurant management or shipping and receiving?
Coming from one of these roles?
Engineering/Development
There’s a mindset shift here for sure, you won’t be writing code as a PM, and will have to be comfortable with that. This background could open up potential roles as a Technical Product Manager where you can leverage that experience.
Collaborating with engineering teams to define product requirements and technical specifications.
Understanding technical limitations and opportunities to inform product design and development.
Managing technical risks and ensuring that engineering resources are effectively allocated.
Leveraging technical knowledge to effectively communicate with engineering teams and to ensure that product decisions are informed by technical considerations.
Analyzing technical feasibility and impact to help prioritize product features and roadmap.
Data Analyst
You might find your perfect role in a data heavy company, reviewing platform metrics and user interaction and making product decisions based on that data.
You have the following already covered:
Conducting market research and analyzing customer data to inform product strategy.
Defining product metrics and using data analysis to monitor and measure progress against those metrics.
Analyzing user feedback to gain insights into customer needs and preferences.
Developing data-driven product roadmaps based on market trends, customer needs, and competitive landscape.
Product Designer
There are a lot of similarities between Product Designers and PMs, including:
Developing and communicating product vision through design thinking methodologies.
Creating prototypes and wireframes to help the team understand the user experience and to validate product concepts.
Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure that design and user experience are integrated throughout the product development process.
Conducting user research to understand user needs and pain points, and integrating insights into product development.
Using design tools and techniques to communicate product requirements and feedback to development teams.
Marketing
A product is only as good as it’s marketing. With a background in Marketing, you may be able to work as a Product Marketing Manager, but of course this is a useful skill for any product manager.
Conducting market research to understand the needs and preferences of target customers.
Developing effective messaging and positioning for products based on customer needs and competitive landscape.
Collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop go-to-market strategies and product launch plans.
Measuring and analyzing product performance and effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Leveraging marketing insights to inform product strategy and roadmap.
A job in Product Management can be very fulfilling and fun for the right person. I realized I wanted to be a product manager when I thought there was a better way to serve customers. This led me to focus more on design and user testing as a developer. It wasn’t enough for me to just do what was specified. I wanted to go deeper and understand why we were building it in the first place.