Various product management schools, workshops and certificate programs strongly suggest that attendees will get jobs as product managers. Success metrics seem critical here, but are notably missing. “Of the people who’s already spent thousands of their own dollars on this course, how many are now working as product managers…?”
Recruiters and hiring managers wade through a tall stack of incoming resumes, most of which are not at all a fit, and often miss subtleties. Strong candidates may need to work around the process to make an impression and get hired.
New product managers have often studied the daily mechanics of the product development process, but tend to be light on soft skills, product strategy, organizational savvy, and market insight. Where do they get into trouble?
Many candidates applying for product management jobs are thinking only about their side of the process, and not applying their product skills to understanding what hiring managers (i.e. buyers) want.
My #1 hiring criterion for (senior) product management roles is previous product management experience. Responding to a Medium post by David Cancel, here’s some of my thinking.
VPs of Product Management have to create the conditions for individual product managers to succeed. This includes organizational, process, hiring/mentoring and cross-functional leadership — plus buy-in at every level. What goes on a new VP’s checklist?
Chad McAllister invited me to join his Everyday Innovator Podcast. We talked about coaching new product managers, organizational challenges and how to overcome them, making time to talk with lot of customers/prospects, and approaches to corporate innovation.
In a job search, *you* are the product that you’re trying to market. Look for ways to apply your product management skills to yourself: segmentation/targeting, turning features into benefits, and solution selling. Become your own demo.
Conway’s Law is an old but useful idea: the organizational structure of software teams shows in their code. The technical architecture grows to look like the org chart. In broader terms, how we group people and delineate teams has a real impact on the products we produce. How does this apply to product management teams?
There are thousands of open product management jobs: suddenly product management seems sexy. Optimism and Pessimist argue about whether product management’s value shifts with the fashion.