Product leaders look after teams of products managers, and sometimes designers or developers. What do they do, and how is it different from the individual product managers on their team?
I talk with lots of senior individual contributors about the risks and challenges of moving “up the ladder” into product leadership roles. Here’s a survey I fielded to capture their top questions and concerns about getting promoted. What do product leaders do? How do product managers signal their interest in becoming one?
This half-day workshop digs into Product Leader roles with job definitions, skills-building, exercises, and a safe place to ask candid career questions. Is Director of Product Management the next job for you?
An all-day workshop for product managers thinking about moving up the product org chart, and for newly promoted product leaders. We will cover what product leaders do, how to signal interest in that role, and discuss its upsides/challenges.
A videocast with Mike Belsito of Product Collective about “Moving Up into a Product Leadership Roles”
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.