AMA: Gusto Head of Product for Mid-Market Businesses, Louisa Henry on Developing Your Product Management Career

If you’re already working somewhere with a PM org, try to move into it. Getting a role at a new company as a first time PM is difficult. Most hiring managers want to see some product experience before making a hire. A lateral move within your company may not be as difficult as it seems. See if you can pick up a side project or do a 3-6 month rotation. Getting the experience will not only help you be considered & help you interview for external PM roles, but will also give you data points to truly understand if being a PM is the right move for you. Another option is to look for companies who offer product internships (if you’re in school), or have associate product management (APM) roles. These programs are typically designed with support and mentorship to show you the ropes of becoming a PM.

This is a framework shared by one of my former executive colleagues. I've found it to be incredibly helpful when thinking through your career, taking on a new project, or considering your next move. Biggest suggestion is to get it on paper. Thinking about your career can be a lot like building product. 1. Write lists of what you do and don't know. What you're confident about, what you're not sure about. After completing your do know/don’t know list, consider actions you can take to move your “don’t know” into the “do know” column. 2. Think through each of these topics and write down what's important to you, where you thrive, and what success looks like. * Areas of passion - encompasses not only the domain you want to be in, but also the skills, experience, and strengths you bring * Fulfillment – includes reflecting upon alignment to your values, higher purpose and legacy * Environment – examines multiple ingredients that combine to create working conditions that set you up to be most successful * Success – creates intentionality around how you are going to measure success in your next role 3. Then think through your decision-making criteria for what is next? (PT, flexible, mission alignment, decision-making authority/span of control, wage, etc.)

I'm interpreting this question as "what metrics do you use to justify a promotion." Ideally you're working at a company with pay equity (eliminating sex and race discrimination in the wage-setting system). If your company has performance axes, I’d start there. Understand what it means to be exceeding expectations at your current level, and what the gaps are between you and the next level. If you’re not sure, ask your manager. More than likely, they’ll be happy to have a career discussion with you. As for metrics, think about it in terms of business impact and customer impact. What metrics have you been successfully able to move to help drive the business forward. At the highest level, think in terms of revenue, churn reduction, new customers, gross margin. If your product doesn’t directly move those numbers, what are the leading indicators that you are moving that should be impacting top line metrics? Ex: customer adoption can be a signal that your product is useful to customers, and may therefore be contributing to them staying longer, and adding more revenue and reduced churn. On the customer side, find metrics to understand how happy customers are with your product. CSAT, NPS, customer effort scores can all be helpful here. Qual and quant are both important. If you find you’ve been consistently performing at the next level expectations for 3-6 months, document your rationale, and talk it through with your manager. If your company has a cadence of regular performance reviews, use this document as an input to that process.

PM is one of those unique roles that gives you so much exposure to many sides of the business. You could aim to move into almost any executive role with enough experience. For example, if you're interested in sales, revenue, and marketing, you could align yourself to growth related products. You'll learn more about the business levers and operating dynamics. Start learning more about the teams, skillset, type of work. Learn more about the leaders, their priorities, their challenges. Volunteer to help out with some non-PM projects to get a better feel. This could set you on a path towards sales leadership, and possibly CRO in the future. Or, in a similar vein, if you're a PM who loves enabling internal teams to do their best, learn about the metrics that drive that business. What are the levers that can be pulled to impact results? You're probably already thinking about how your product is contributing to that. Get closer to the teams, the leaders, the organizational structure. Meet with the COO and see if that's a path you'd be interested in pursuing. Also, if you love product, you don't have to leave it. :)

If you’re looking to grow from a Senior PM to a Group PM or Director, begin to look more broadly across the business vs focusing solely on your specific product area. It’s important to deeply understand the business levers that outcomes that the company is aiming to achieve. Once you start to understand the business at the level, you’ll be able to connect dots and identify opportunities to drive impact at a larger scale. If you don’t have the opportunity to shift the type of product you’re working on, look at other ways to drive a larger impact at the team or organizational level. Find opportunities to build bridges, mentor others, build inclusive communities, and impact the broader organization. Also, be sure to have these conversations with your manager. Don’t wait for opportunities to fall into your lap. Express what your career goals are and what you’re interested in. Your manager will help you get there.