So… am I a Product Manager?
The software industry is changing at a pace we can’t even understand yet. These changes are happening because all sorts of industries are prioritizing their digital strategy and do not want to miss the train of digitization. They want to explain their customers they are cool enough to produce high quality digital services. Just like the Dot Com Bubble, companies are redefining their value proposition to match market trends, aiming for future clients, millennial and gen-z clients mainly, who expect an app for pretty much everything in their lives. Also, software engineering is evolving to cope with uncertainty and change as requirements are defined on the go.
I have been working at Bayer for 2.5 years now, in the Crop Science division. Traditionally the agriculture industry has had its focus on developing products and solutions against pests, diseases or biotech to improve crops and increase yield. However, just like the rest of industries, the wave of digitization has arrived and all key players in the market are fighting to define the future of digital agriculture. And that is exactly my current position: analyze market trends, discover what farmers really need and create high quality digital products that match the company strategy and deliver value to our users.
When I started working in my current position, it was difficult to imagine how my job was going to be like. Especially because I had a strong technical background as a software developer and didn’t have much idea of what marketing was. Nevertheless, I quickly got into the role and I started understanding and learning more about agriculture, our products, competitors… But something that really bugged me was the lack of a formal title to the job I was doing everyday. When a friend of mine would ask me what my position was, all I could come up with was with something like: ‘Digital Farming Specialist’.
— What’s that?
— Well, I am in the marketing department where I try to understand what our clients want and then I create a digital product vision, I write technical specifications, prioritize and establish a roadmap with timings and budget. I also make sure the product is built correctly testing it with real users and measuring if it meets our goals or not.
— Ah, okay.
It is quite frustrating to feel your are doing something others do not understand or can’t really understand what the value of your job is. Then I heard someone say ‘product manager’. My eyes opened to that new term and I started my research. Ahá! So what I am doing has a name and people are writing about how to do good product management. Look! There is even a Venn’s Diagram summing up my interactions and giving a clear vision of the role! Everything I was reading started to make quite a lot of sense and I couldn’t be more thrilled to learn and implement all those fancy PM tools, metrics and lingo. I was prepared to become an official Product Manager.
Oh wait! You said official? Well, turns out Product Management is not really something you can ‘major’ or get certified. So how the hell do people learn about it? How are PM’s trained? Should I study marketing, software engineering or UX?! After meeting and talking to different ‘official’ Product Managers I understood this role is completely based on practice, learning, sharing and improving. Of course there is common ground: communication, prioritization, discovery and analysis. However, a Product Manager needs to find the best way to make all these pieces work for a given environment.
Since then, I have been reading and attending online courses to find out what other professionals are doing. That is why I will be using my blog to post about some experiences I had during these past years which match the role of a Product Manager, with some reflection about what I have learned and has helped me create digital products that can bring value to the user. Stay tuned!
