Why I Became a Product Owner & Consultant
Good Consultants act as modern-day mercenaries to bring somebody else’s product to life.
About a year ago, I made a decision that probably raised a few of my colleague’s eyebrows — I decided to leave the company that I’d helped create and grow for almost eight years, and put my mind to pursuing a career as a Product Owner. Admittedly, the change wasn’t as dramatic as I (deliberately) made it sound in the opening of the paragraph — after all, I did have substantial experience as a project manager and an analyst delivering software solutions for US clients. However, at the time, I was resigning from a leadership position and that meant giving up the opportunity to have a very tangible, direct impact on the company’s strategic goals and operations. I know, that seems crazy, right?
I could probably count on one hand the times in my life when I acted on impulse, and my decision to become a Product Owner was not one of them. I’d done my homework: I knew where my strengths lay and, more importantly, I knew that there’s nothing in the world that gives me more joy and more thrill than conceptualizing, strategizing, and delivering awesome software products that solve real problems (ok, you got me, I’m a geek!). I’m also a passionate learner so by the time I arrived at the decision to shift my career, I’d already been reading up and teaching myself about product strategies and product development, and felt confident I was up for the challenge.
If you ever looked for a job as a Product Owner, then you probably know that most of the job offers fall into one of the two categories:
a. Product Owner at a product company
b. Product Owner at a consulting company
While I knew option a. would probably allow me more independence and governance as a PO (as per Five Product Owner Maturity Levels), it also meant there was a good chance that I’d be working on a single product and within a single business industry for a foreseeable future. I wasn’t ready for this level of specialization at the time, so I went with option b. and joined an IT consulting firm with a wickedly smart team. I couldn’t be happier, although thanks to my previous consulting experience I was all well aware that the luxury of working on a whole variety of products and with clients and users from multiple industries came with some caveats.
Caveats to Being a Consultant
The biggest caveat to being a consultant is that you’re basically a mercenary. Someone (the client) pays you to bring their vision to life. You read that right — THEIR vision, not yours. Remember this bit, we will return to it later.
When you work for an IT consulting company, what typically happens is you are sought out by organizations or individuals who have an idea and have the funding, but don’t necessarily have all the skills and expertise to develop and launch the product. They approach you in good faith, hoping you’ll help them fill in the gaps and partner with them on what often is an exciting but also a scary undertaking for them. This is where the consultant PO comes in.
Now, what you have to understand is that when you are a consultant, it’s all too easy to fall into the traps of either excessive compliance or self-righteous arrogance. Excessive compliance, the urge to satisfy client’s every stated need or requirement is something that often characterizes young professionals that are just starting their careers in consulting, which is quite understandable — they may lack the confidence in their own skills just yet or they may simply not know any better (for example why what people say they want may be different from what they need).
The product results that such approach brings about are, more often than not, far from ideal: feature creeps and erratic changes to product overall vision and strategy are common. The product development team becomes quite miserable and resentful, and the client cannot help but wonder why THEIR product isn’t getting much traction with users. Well, the answer is quite simple: that’s because the consultant PO didn’t do their job — they were so focussed on developing their vision to realize every new feature idea (aka: was busy catching frisbees), that they forgot to do the one thing they were hired for: to consult.
If you feel you got yourself locked in the perpetual yes-saying position, then I have good news for you: most of us consultants experienced this ailment at some point in our careers, and it’s totally treatable. Find a mentor that will teach you the ins and outs of being an assertive and yet professional consultant. Read up on technology and product management to build your professional competence and practice the art of saying “no” — your clients deserve to have a knowledgeable and confident partner in you.
Bringing Somebody Else’s Vision to Life
The other trap that I often see some IT consultants (not only Product Owners, mind you) fall into is that of a self-righteous arrogance. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds — I’ve seen people who were brilliant POs, UX designers and architects (but apparently, not the best consultants) turn frustrated, bitter and disengaged when tasked with realizing the client’s vision for the product that is different from their own. They are so preoccupied with what they believe the product should be, that they forget what they were hired in the first place: to consult and to help bring someone else’s vision to life. Period. If anything, opening yourself up to the idea that you’re not infallible in your judgement may actually allow you to achieve more in the field of digital product development — after all, some of the applications that have captivated us most in the past few years couldn’t have been seen as obvious winners while they were still in the conceptualization stage.
Andrew Chen summarized this concept in his delightful article:
Ideas seem pretty random because in the past few years, some of the biggest wins were: An app that lets you get into strangers’ cars. An app that lets you stay at random peoples’ houses. Disappearing photos. A site that doesn’t let you play video games, but you can watch other people play. Seriously?
(A. Chen, The Dumb Idea Paradox: Why great ideas often start out by sounding dumb?)
If you cannot find the humility to accept that, as a consultant, you’re basically a mercenary, then probably the best thing you can do is stop being a consultant. If you’ve been aching over some unrealized app idea, then take the plunge and create your own startup. Or go and join a product company, where you can put all your energy in developing the product in the only way that you believe is right (except this time you’d be arguing your case to the internal stakeholders instead of external clients). Either way, you’re bound to be much happier and sleep better at night.
Does it mean that as a consultant you get a free pass to do anything that the client mandates? Absolutely not (see the excessive compliance trap). The reality is that it requires a lot of finesse, high work ethics and (putting it plainly) a moral spine to be good at this job. Unfortunately, there are no commandments or rules on what to do and what not to, but what you need is to be very clear on what your principles are. For example, if the client is pushing for a decision, feature, etc. that you believe will be detrimental to the product or to the business model, then it’s your job to raise and address the issue until you feel you’ve exhausted your arguments. But if despite your best efforts they insist on proceeding*, then you had better roll up your sleeves and do the best job you can realizing your client’s vision. But you have to know where to draw the line. Personally, I would never agree to engage in the development of a product that would be designed as deceptive to users or that would have serious security flaws — the same way as I’d never engage in child labor or human trafficking. I simply think it’s wrong.
Being a consultant Product Owner is not easy, but there are professions that are way more difficult (speleologists come to mind). Jokes aside, it’s not a job for everyone. You have to be knowledgeable to earn your client’s trust. You have to be assertive and stand your ground to earn her respect. And finally, you have to have the humility to accept that at the end of the day they are the ones who have all the stakes in the product.
Your reward is the multitude of products and industries that you get to work on. In my career, I’ve developed mobile banking apps, RFID-based warehouse management systems, floral arrangement apps, and screen UIs and management systems for vending kiosks. The learning opportunity is limited only by the extent of your curiosity. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take it.
*If this dynamic becomes a pattern, then there’s a good chance that what your client really needs is not a consultant PO but a project manager. It might be worth to re-evaluate the engagement, then.
