Product Won’t Fix Your Management
“Hi, I’m reaching out because I’d like to get into Product Management.”
Sound familiar? A lot of people want to give Product Management a try these days, and it’s easy to see why. It’s interesting (okay I’m biased, being one), it’s in demand, and it pays well. Three amazing qualities to have in a career, no?
But there’s another reason. Anyone leading a company, take note.
Many coffees later, it’s clear to me that a lot of eager young professionals feel stifled. They lack context for their work. They feel excluded from decision-making, not empowered to affect change in their company. The will and energy is there, but they have nowhere to direct it. And when people feel stifled, one of two things usually happens. Either they give up caring to collect a pay cheque, or they start looking for something new.
Product Management markets itself as a miracle job that pulls the strings on company strategy. We talk to customers, we talk to designers and engineers, we talk to senior management, and we own the roadmap. That’s true. And I love that. But we are not almighty and powerful. We are not CEOs. Even a team of expert product managers pulling those strings won’t have the desired effect if the very fabric of the company is tangled. This is a plain old Management problem.
Here are a few of the motivations I’ve heard from aspiring Product Managers:
- I’m forced to work on projects that I think are bad for the business
- I don’t get any say in feature design
- I want to talk to customers
- I don’t think what we’re building is useful
- I want more insight into my company’s strategy
- We build exactly what clients ask for, even if it’s bad design
All these reasons go beyond Product Management, straight to the company’s core. Culture and strategy are tough to do well, but a company can’t have an identity or direction without it. If you’re a boss and your employees are feeling this way, then it’s your job to notice and to make time for it.
Over the last decade, so many emergent tech giants have boasted about their product strategies. Intercom basically built their brand on this, not to mention Netflix, Spotify, and Airbnb to name a few. And we have seen incumbent tech giants like Blackberry implode for failing to have product strategy. Or, in Microsoft’s case, save itself with major product overhauls. If you are a millennial like me, this rise in “product thinking” has spanned our entire careers.
But regardless of how long you’ve been in the game, it’s hard to see all this and not long to work somewhere with a brilliant product vision too. To understand your contribution in the grand scheme of things, whatever kind of work you do.
So why do so many people want to get into Product Management? High demand aside, people admire product-focused companies. They want to do something about a gap they perceive at their company, but it’s not written into their current role. And they think that the only way to scratch that product itch is to switch careers.
Well, it shouldn’t have to be so drastic if product thinking is woven into the fabric of the company. And since company culture happens top-down, the real call-to-action here is for the folks at the top. You have the power — it is a choice — to pay attention. Is your whole company aligned on product strategy? If you surveyed everyone to name 3 company goals, how different would those answers be?
Even if you are not an executive, but you manage a team, you are responsible for alignment. If you cannot answer your people’s questions about the priorities, heck maybe you don’t even know yourself, then you need to raise the alarm.
Today’s modern workforce expects modern leadership. Yet, it’s clearly possible to be 5+ years out of school, 3 jobs in, and never had a good boss (at which point you reach out to your Product Manager friend for a coffee 🙂). It wasn’t until I went through thoughtful management training* myself that I understood the impact of having and being a good boss. Chances are that a lot of professionals, young and old, haven’t spent enough time thinking about it either. (*This is my unpaid, enthusiastic endorsement of Raw Signal Group)
Putting my Product hat on, a lot of what makes a well-managed company overlaps with what makes a “product-minded” one. If you’re not sure what these “product-minded” buzzwords mean, then level up and learn. Melissa Perri’s Escaping the Build Trap is a great place to start. It’s short and well-written (uncommon for business books!). It spells out what a product-minded organization looks like, and what that means for senior management vs the product team. No paid endorsement either, just a true fan!
So what’s my point, in the end?
People across roles want to care about the work they do. That is a good thing. Don’t waste it.
Product Managers can only be as effective as the organization that supports them. But that goes for any role.
Bosses, take this article as another reason to spend time building big-picture alignment. What your people are working on and why. In other words — the whole point of your company.
