
A short talk about Paying It Forward and the important of personal networking in the product management community. I share three personal vignettes to highlight value of personal networking and ways we can all Pay It Forward to build an even stronger product community.

10 questions from The Clever PM for his blog series including ‘What piece of advice would you share?’ and ‘What are the biggest challenges for Product Leaders? and ‘Biggest differences between smaller startups and larger companies?’

This Product Camp discussion focused on career ladders for product managers, what directors do that’s different from their individual contributors, and how to signal your interest if you want that next job up. Several participants raised real-world issues, and product veterans sharing their hard-won points of view.

Product managers (owners) need to drive market acceptance and actual user adoption, not just on-time software delivery. What market-facing skills does this demand?

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…?”

A podcast with SC Moatti, founder of Products That Count. We discussed technology product management roles, career ladders, the critical need for cross-functional communication, how incentives shape what our peers do, and when a startup hires its first full-time product manager.

I joined M. David Green’s Hack The Process podcast where we talked about products, organizations, humility, content marketing, and narrowly focusing a consulting practice. A packed 45 minutes.

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.

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.

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?