Product Management Career Path

This reminds me of an interview question I got a very long time ago: "Is it better to have a bad team or a bad manager". In both cases, you'd rather not find yourself in either extreme. In both cases, there is no right or wrong answer and a lot depends on additional circumstances and assumptions. The answer will also depend on your value system and the experiences which have shaped your core beliefs about human aptitude and potential.  For the sake of argument, if I had to pick, I would first apply the same framework: which suboptimal option is more mitigatable.  I believe that most p...

To make this decision, I think of opportunity, ambitions, passion, and time: 1. Opportunity - obviously there is a matter of compensation, but there is also an opportunity for professional growth. For example, joining a startup allows you to grow much quicker -- you will be wearing different hats and working much closer to the company leadership. You will make a lot of mistakes, but the learnings will be much greater. 2. Ambitions - depending on where you at in life, different things might take a priority and it's important to keep that in mind e.g. you are starting a...

There are some absolutes, which may be self-evident, but I'll still mention them for the record: disrespect, discrimination, excessive stress, unreasonable and unhealthy workload, workplace toxicity in all it's forms, the company is unethical or is visibly tanking...and many more.  Otherwise, I suspect the most common reason to leave might be simply put as: a better opportunity elsewhere. Now, this is a very personal calculus that becomes harder if things are not exactly terrible. Perhaps you are holding out for the promotion and it is taking longer. Perhaps the economy is too "risky" at t...

There are a couple of factors to consider here: * Are you learning anything new in your current role? If not, would staying with the company, even if it is in a different role, or a more senior role (be that IC or management), satisfy your learning? * Do you enjoy the domain, vertical, and business model of the company that you work for? * What are the company's growth prospects (or if a startup, prospect for success -- however you define success?) Be very honest and don't just take company management's word for it. * Are you excited and passionate about the product that...

This is a tough question to answer because it is so situational. For example - I have seen organizations where PM is so immature that it is essentially a project management function. Melissa Perri even uses such an example in her excellent book Escaping the Build Trap! While in Perri's fictional organization, she was able to develop the PMPs into PMs in the end, many companies would opt to try and hire a few true PMs first. Another dimension is mix of seniority which is critical on any team (just like in engineering). If you have a team of all very junior-to-intermediate PMs, you may fin...

Typically, promotions are the result of an individual's performance and business needs. In other words, it's hard to make a case for becoming a Director if your area can be covered by a single Sr PM, so both you and your product area need to grow.  PM Directors are also people managers who hire and build a team of other Product Managers. Having good people skills is important but you also need to be a great PM, so you can lead and help your team of Product Managers grow.  Finally, shifting to be a Director shifts your time allocation -- you spend more time in meetings working with your te...

This is a mix of both seniority as well as working at a high-growth private company but clarifying R&Rs to ensure teams are built to maximize impact while minimizing management overhead is something I have a much deeper appreciation for now vs. earlier in my career when I focused more on getting a launch across the finish line.

A few of things: * Know what, when and how to delegate. Delegation has such a negative connotation in industry (being seen as letting garbage flow downhill) but I believe this is because so many managers are poor at the mechanics of delegation. As a PM director, you have to learn how to delegate problems to be solved and not orders to be fulfilled (a/k/a solutions) and be comfortable with the ultimate solutions even if they weren't what you would have built as an IC in the shoes of the delegate. You must also learn to see delegation as the manner in which you are gran...

1. Storytelling. You need to be able to tie many disparate pieces of product work - user needs, business goals, technical limitaitons, competitive landscape, innovation opportunities - into a coherent, compelling narrative. A director can fill in the blanks in the following sentences with ease: "This year, my team is trying to achieve _____ because our comany needs to _____. In order to reach our goal, we need resources of ______ , focus on ______ and ______ and support from ______." 2. System thinking. A common mistake I see in PMs is trying to get *their* work done without thinking throu...

1. Exemplary people leadership (ability to bring people along) 2. Strong relationships across various functions (including non-R&D teams) - get done what's needed to solve a problem, and get products launched. 3. Maturity to know when to switch course for a product line, drive tough decisions, and leverage #1 to bring your team along with you in that decision.

1. Communication 2. Execution 3. Domain expertise I'd add stakeholder management as an important one but I can only do the top 3 :)

My answer to this depends a lot on whether the "director" title includes people management or not. Personally, I believe that it should, and that the IC (individual contributor) track should only use the titles PM 1-3, Senior PM, Staff PM, Principal PM, Distinguished PM, etc. But I don't make the rules for the industry :-) and I recognize a lot of organizations use "director" to mean IC as well. I am going to answer the question assuming you mean that it includes people management. Accordingly, the top skill you want to have is a) knowing that you want to manage (a/k/a model, coach/mento...

The biggest struggle I have observed is related to transition from an individual level product craft growth to growing that of a group. Andy Grove in High Output Management said "Managers are responsible for increasing the output of their organizations and neighboring organizations they influence". Read this sentence again and again. The learning curve is in learning how to optimize for the outputs of your team vs. your own. This means that you need to make trade-offs across your teammates and their areas, as well as help each of them grow as much as possible.  My recommendation is to read...

Love the proactive thinking and the desire to excel :) Not sure if the learning curve is any steeper but there are a few things that can support career growth: * Master the craft for what is required of you in the current seniority. * Get exposure to delegating more work, creating leverage across different teams, and see if you are able to 'let go of the detailed tasks' but still bring a beautiful product to life with your team. * Get exposure to market maps, strategy documents, start asking thoughtful questions in various forums with leadership - not to be the loudest voice...

In my experience, the learning curve happens in the current role, as a prerequisite to transitioning into the next. You have to be operating at the next level already and there really isn't an easing of the transition beyond that. For example, managing wider scope, solving harder problems, navigating trickier interpersonal dynamics, connecting more "dots", communicating with more clarity on more complex matters, and influencing more people and outcomes, are among some of the skills needed at every PM level, but to different degrees. As you showcase these skills you are already solidifying t...

It can definitely be a steep learning curve, because at Staff+ PM level you are expected to have strengths in one or more areas of product management that aren't often exercised at lower levels. Some examples: * Having a much wider aperture and being able to develop and sell portfolio-level (not just product or feature-level) product strategy that can touch other areas of the company * Assessing and making build vs. borrow vs. buy recommendations & understanding how to work with a channel/partner/business development team * Coaching and mentoring other PMs and reviewing their w...

Startups are all about speed. To move fast, you need to know where you are going (aka what to be ruthlessly focused on) and allocate the most of your time/energy to that. Easier said than done, right? One thing that helped a lot in my early startup days was my framework of "One thing I am going to fail today".  Once you establish together with your team what you are focused on this week, month, quarter - write that down and look at it every day when planning out your work. Then, notice things that either don't help you move there, or things where your quality of deliverables will not be cr...

In a startup, the R&R is faintly defined at its best. You naturally get pulled into 1000 different things - that is both fun and a challenge :) A few things that you might find helpful: * In the beginning, it is good to get exposed to a variety of different topics. It can be overwhelming for sure. * Once you understand the organization's needs, ask yourself "What can I do to make our company successful?" (and I hope your equity motivates you to ask this question each step of the way). * The answer to that question will help you in 1) Defining more R&Rs across the company 2) ...

Actually, no differently than managing the 1001 questions and tasks shot at you in a large company :) A PM wears many hats. If any one area takes over disproportionately, the risk is that you are no longer doing the job of a PM. Some common blurring of the boundaries is when PM is acting to fill gaps that are normally entirely different functions: - Project manager - QA - Technical Support - Technical Writer - Trainer - Solution Consultant - Marketer - Data Analyst, etc. Write down the CORE PM responsibilities, that should NOT be owned by another function. This is how in the...

I've definitely been there! As you correctly intuit, your first order of business is to buy yourself some time to develop a strategic point of view and a roadmap that supports that it. Obviously that means you're going to need to spend time meeting with customers, prospects and customer-facing teams inside your organization, synthesize the learnings, and develop that roadmap & strategy. In a startup, you have to do this at a much higher tempo than at a more established company, but it's essential that you convince your direct (and indirect) management that investing in these things is going...

Having worked in Product in completely opposite contexts, the most valuable soft and hard skills depend on several factors, including product maturity, organizational maturity, availability of supporting functions (e.g., Product Operations, Product Analysts, etc.), and company cultural norms.  At WooCommerce/Automattic, the expectations I set for PMs are: 1. Drive the creation and execution of product strategy for your focus area. 2. Lead multi-disciplinary teams through the development process. 3. Cultivate direct connections with our customers. 4. Increase our success in aiding ou...

* Soft skill: Great product managers can seamlessly adjust their communication to match their audience. As a product manager, you'll speak with people in different roles and varying levels of expertise in your subject area. It is essential that you can communicate your ideas and exchange information with everyone! I really love the perspective shared by Camilla Boyer in a recent talk at GitLab about communicating with emotional intelligence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pZoNORrDjU. Product managers should approach conversations with the mindset of providing the info...

As a general manager, I own specific business goals and outcomes that I need to achieve, and am responsible for on an organization level. Those goals are very specific and measurable, so I always know where I stand on them. As a team leader, I measure success through my team's happiness, proficiency, ability to grow their careers, and our ability to scale the team (e.g. we can quickly and effectively onboard new team members and set them up for success). As a product manager, I tie my own evaluation of success to value I deliver to my customers (measured both qualitatively and quantitativel...

At Asana, we don't use leveled job titles to indicate seniority (e.g. Product Manager III or Senior Director of Marketing), but that doesn't mean that we don't have management structures in place. Instead, we use Success Guides for every team that help employees understand what success looks like for each role level at Asana. Another way we demonstrate ownership and growth in role is Areas of Responsibility, key areas of the business that have one designated owner who is responsible. AoRs act as a directory so employees easily can understand who does what, and they offer employees additiona...

This varies so much from company to company but my general lens while moving from PM to SPM: * SPMs have had at least one meaningful product launch in their career. * SPMs are able to cut across product lines, reach out to multiple PMs to identify dependencies, get buy-ins, and manage timelines for complex launches that touch various parts of a product ecosystem (vs. focusing on one siloed area). * SPMs establish a relationship with various stakeholders (including non-R&D folks). * SPMs can outline a broader business strategy and define a long-term vision for their areas...

As you progress from PM to senior PM, competencies in these 3 areas should grow: Autonomy💪🏽, Scope 🌫️ and Leadership 🙋 . There are a few clear indications that someone is ready for the senior level, like increased scope, being a reliable partner and being results driven. Here are some less obvious ones: #1 You recommend initiatives based on your strategic evaluation, instead of waiting for them to be handed to you. You are influential in your field and feel confident putting forward these initiatives. #2 You leverage relationships across the org. You can drive results from partners outsid...

In general, the progression from any level to the next is a matter of demonstrating increasing levels of skill in product definition, technical or domain expertise, ability to navigate and project manage increasing levels of complexity, communication, and ability to influence amonst others. Another way to think about this is that you are increasingly moving from "learning the ropes" to "knowing the ropes" to eventually "having invented the ropes". Much depends also on how formally the company defines the boundaries between roles, how flat the org is or conversely, how much title inflation t...

Check out my other answer in the AMA outlining the difference in skills between different PM levels. As for how do I know that someone is ready to take on a Sr. PM role, the answer is I can see them operating with a mastery of skills that I expect from a senior product manager, while their title may still not have a Sr. in it. Best folks always uplevel themselves a little faster than the title, because if you are a growth mindset person who always likes to learn, you will most likely outpace your title at some point. My recommendation is also to work with your manager as well and establish ...