6 Reasons Why All Product Managers Should Play Intramural Sports

Published in

Frontiers

6 min readAug 14, 2016

“Team Friendship”: Co-ed Flag Football Champions

Over the last 3 years, I’ve played intramural sports in Washington, D.C.

What started as a casual weeknight kickball league to meet friends evolved over the years to several competitive co-ed flag football teams.

Along the way, I started to notice more and more parallels between intramural sports and my job in a technology company as a Product Manager. I distilled these findings down to 6 reasons that I encourage any aspiring (or current) Product Manager to play intramural sports.

And don’t worry, it’s definitely not about being athletic.

1. Managing Success and Failure

The first season I played kickball, we won exactly 0 games. And we didn’t just lose, we lost bad, like 25–2 bad. Since I have a Type A/competitive personality, this was frustrating. But each season, our team got better, our communication improved, and in a few short seasons we were competing for the championship. All with largely the same group of people.

In technology and Product Management, there are lots of highs and lows and it’s your job to help the team manage both.

2. Trying New Things

When I first started kickball, I hadn’t played the game since elementary school. When I began playing flag football, I had thrown a football around before, but I had never quarterbacked for a team that had it’s own playbook. Life is about trying new things and intramural sports are a great place for doing that.

In technology and Product Management, if you aren’t trying new things each and every week, you’re not doing your job.

3. Staying Fit (Physically and Mentally)

While certain parts of working at a technology company can certainly seem luxurious to outsiders (catered lunches, open offices, casual clothing to name a few), the truth is that these companies and the people in them are often under a fair amount of pressure: pressure from investors; pressure from the industry; and pressure from each other.

This makes it all the more important to stay fit, both physically and mentally. Intramural sports are a great path to both. While playing kickball or flag football won’t make you the next CrossFit champion, they will help you get and stay in shape. As you get involved with more sports, you’ll find yourself in the gym more often, and you’ll find that work and life is more balanced.

4. Getting and Staying Social

Intramural sports are also often called “Social Sports” and this name couldn’t be more appropriate. While competitiveness varies between leagues and between sports, the one aspect of intramural sports that I’ve found highly consistent is a focus on socialization. Almost every kickball or football game ends with a trip to the local bar to have a drink not only with our own team, but also our opponents. This is what makes intramural sports closer to Product Management than traditional sports: win or lose, it’s about building personal connections as you grow.

In technology and Product Management, staying social is one of the best ways to be successful. Build connections with your team, with other parts of the business, and in your city. It doesn’t need to be forced “networking”, but develop relationships wherever you go. You never know what connection will pay off in the future, so make as many as you can!

5. Building Strong Team Work

It almost goes without saying, but intramural sports rely heavily on teamwork. It’s impossible for one person to win a kickball or football game (even though I’ve definitely seen some people try). The best teams are just that, teams. They work together towards a common goal in a methodical way that’s been practiced and refined over time. I’ve seen many significantly more athletic teams lose to better-prepared, more experienced, better-communicating teams.

In technology and Product Management, team work is essential. Find the way to build the strongest and most diverse team possible. Discover and surface weaknesses to the team so they can collectively work to improve on them. This is the only way teams get better, in both intramural sports and technology development.

6. Working With a Variety of Skills and Personalities

After playing over 20 seasons of intramural sports, I’ve encountered a lot of really interesting and unique people, both on my teams and others. The best teams understand how to manage a wide variety of skills and personalities and assimilate the best parts of their abilities, while minimizing the impact of the worst parts. The football teams I have been on have never been the most athletic. However, we managed to win back-to-back championships because we found the right place for each member of the team to contribute their unique skills to the team. Additionally, we recognized the motivational impact of certain players off the field. Coaches are important too!

In technology and Product Management, you’re going to encounter a very, very wide variety of skills and personalities. On your team, on teams you work with, and with your leadership team, you need to quickly understand these personalities, biases, and individual perspectives so that you can communicate in the best way possible. Product Management is about connecting different parts of the business together in the best way possible to move towards a common goal. My experience with intramural sports has certainly helped my skills in this area.

So what are you waiting for?

Find an intramural league in your city or town and get playing!

You’ll quickly find that it improves your performance in your technology or Product Management job.

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