How do you prepare yourself to become a Product Marketing Director and manage a team, without any experience managing anyone previously?

You do not have to have direct reports to develop some of the skills you will need to be a good manager and demonstrate that you are ready to take on the challenge of managing a team.Many PMMs have to mobilize large cross functional teams to get work done. To do this well, you need to set a clear vision, set expectations for what will be done by when, provide feedback and coaching when the work is not on track, etc. All of these skills are critical to being an effective manager. In addition, you ...Read More

My first piece of advice: Talk to your direct manager about this and make it known that a) you're interested in becoming a manager b) you'd appreciate any professional development they can provide in this area. The reason I call this out to start is because it's not always clear or obvious to managers that a team member wants this for him or herself (I've managed PMMs who want to stay individual contributors or move laterally into product management roles). I also know that there are a ton of ma ...Read More

In my experience, being a people manager doesn't change much across disciplines. The priorities should always be to help your team grow and develop their career (the output is great work and team success). If you've demonstrated you're a strong people leader that should be enough. I know formal people mangement opportunities can be hard to come by in a small company. Try to informally mentor some of the less experienced PMMs on the team. Also recognize that management skills is just one part of ...Read More

To prepare your yourself to manage other PMMs as a Director, make sure you gain plenty of experience managing large-cross functional projects where success depends on your ability to lead through influence vs. leading through authority or team structure. It could be a positioning exercise, a major product launch or leading the submission of a major analyst report like a Gartner Magic Quadrant or a Forrester Wave. There's no telling how much cat herding you'll have to do to pull something like th ...Read More

As an individual contributor today, you can demonstrate your ability to manage projects and influence and lead people who do not directly report to you. This could be collaborating and convincing the product team of a new feature to win a new segment, or in effectively managing the many pieces and stakeholders behind a good product launch. Also ensure you’re actively managing your career with those mentors or managers who will shape it. Share your goals with your boss. Ask what they would need t ...Read More

Great question. There are 3 ways to get demonstrable management experience outside of having FTEs report to you. #1: Manage interns and contractors. Volunteer to run a message testing project through a research vendor. Volunteer to produce an explainer video series using an animation production company. Volunteer to hire an intern and complete a data analysis project that is valuable to the business. Outside of these project-based examples, identify an area where having an ongoing freelancer on ...Read More

Yes, this is a tough one. I would suggest doing the following to gain some more recent “management” experience: Hire an intern - either summer or part-time Manage agencies or contractors If side projects are possible at your company, see if anyone wants to work on a PMM side project with you While you do need to acquire management experience somehow, you’re more likely to get the opportunity to do it (with less experience) if you go to a small company. And don’t completely discount your cross-fu ...Read More

I’ve been a one person PMM-team several times in the last decade and encountered the same challenges. More of my management experience comes from my analytics and innovation roles in the past. I'd recommend that you find ways to onboard people or be a mentor or teacher to others. A chunk of these management skills are transferable, but I would consider three points as you grow: What do you need to be a better manager? Many general management (and people) skills can be transferable. Your experien ...Read More

I don't think courses or books will substitute real world management experience, ever. Courses and books are helpful, but in terms of interviewing for a Director role with people management responsibility, they are not a substitute.  I've hired first time managers a few times. Nothing against someone trying to get their first at bat managing or running a team. All depends on the situation, who they will be managing (and how many). Probably the best advice I can give here is just what I'd look fo ...Read More