"How do I prove my value as a product manager?"
This is one of the most common questions I get.
Heck, I've asked myself that question throughout my career. Still do.
It's often articulated in different ways:
- How can I get more empowerment?
- How can I convince my boss / leadership / execs to "let go"?
- How can I get engineering to follow my ideas?
- How can I get sales to not just see me as "technical"?
- How do I help my boss understand my impact?
- How can I grow from being an order taker to a decision maker?
- How can I be a part of the strategic decision making?
- How do I get promoted?
- How do I convince a hiring manager to hire me?
- (My favorite) How can I convince X to get the F off my back?
It's not surprising, really.
There seems to be so much confusion and differing opinions on what product management is and what product managers do. Most job descriptions out there don't help, unfortunately.
In the last 5-7 years, there's been an explosion of consultants ready to evangelize some new framework, process, or mental model. Or publish a post on "43 skills a product manager MUST have."
Or experts online ready to stir the pot by engaging in semantic debates on the definition of arcane terms that ultimately don't help move the needle on delivering monetizable customer value.
Or a senior PM who worked at a FAANG company who is now a teacher, saying, "I managed Big Thing X that you all know at FAANG, so naturally I'm an expert on all things product management."
The worst advice? "You're the CEO of the product." (We're not.)
Agile has hurt us
Agile is one of the worst things to happen to product management. (Controversial?)
It's given power to Engineering and the CTO, and coupled with weak product leadership, it's led to the product manager's role becoming increasingly a technical and operational one.
It's pushed PMs to spend more and more time with engineering teams instead of with customers.
(And then, ironically, I hear CTOs complain to me all the time: "I'm not getting customer and business insights from product management.")
A cottage industry has been built around agile, scrum, and certified product owner training.
That's all fine. Agile is a perfectly fine software development philosophy when implemented well. (Which, I've found, it rarely is.)
The problem is that all of these agile trainings focus on the build and deliver side, and none on the business and go-to-market side.
Agile doesn't solve the problem of providing a capital-efficient method for discovering, validating, delivering, and growing a marketable product.
Which is exactly what product management is about.
The hubris of product management
On top of all this, many of us are guilty of being cocky and preachy.
As an ambitious Senior Product Manager at one company, armed with newly acquired knowledge on agile and lean practices, I went around the org lecturing every executive I could find on this perfect product development process I had devised.
(As if I was the first to ever invent the "perfect" product development process...)
I got a lot of pushback. But I stuck at it. I even implemented some of the practices on my product.
I naively thought if I could convince them of my way of thinking, it would transform the company.
Year after year, though, I got passed up for promotions.
The primary feedback I got was: "You're a smart guy with interesting ideas. But you just don't understand the business."
I eventually quit. I blamed the execs. "They just don't understand product management," I consoled myself, ignoring the fact that in the meantime the company was growing 20% YoY.
A few years later, I joined a startup in a head of product role. Job 1 was to build a new product and migrate customers from the existing product. Once again, I lectured the CEO on my brilliant "product process".
Idea capture. Prioritization scoring. Story points. Sprint planning. Release process. Velocity tracking.
I'll never forget his response.
He said: "Shardul, this all sounds fine. Ultimately, I'll leave it to you and the CTO to agree on the best process..."
He continued: "My question is: We have $5M in customer revenue on the existing platform. I've promised the Board we'll have at least 50% of that on the new platform by the end of this year, because we cannot support the R&D expense across two platforms give our current run rate. Does this process help us achieve that faster? That's what I don't see here in your proposal."
As trained product managers, we love to think we've got it all figured out and if only we lecture someone on the right way to build and launch products, all will be right with the world.
Unfortunately, the world doesn't work like that.
And getting preachy to the CEO, or any executive, for that matter, is generally not a winning move.
Product Managers tell me: "CEOs and execs don’t understand how product development should be done."
CEOs and product execs tell me: "All I get is technical and operational responses. No insights to move the business forward."
There's so much focus in product management on "ideal" practices and processes, semantic debates, and jargon monoxide.
Lots of advice on "being the voice of the customer" without the commercial perspective.
No wonder there’s so much hand-wringing about how to "prove the value of product management."
It's no wonder product management is going through an identity crisis.
Where we go from here
There's really no rocket science to developing, launching, and growing products in the commercial space.
Yes, absolutely it is a complex job. (What job isn't?) The complexity comes from the context of the business, the organizational dynamics, and dealing with the people involved. This makes it a political job.
Yet, in almost 30 years of having worked in startups and big companies, private and public, across multiple industries, I've found the core principles are consistent.
We will thrive if we can get customer insights, understand go-to-market, and deliver results that matter to the business.
Developing leadership and business acumen with the ability to execute is a massive differentiator.
That's why I'm writing this newsletter.
Since you've decided to subscribe, I'm guessing you feel this too and are looking for help.
I'm here to do 2 things for you:
- Help you build skills that will make you an invaluable product manager.
- Build a successful career in product management using those skills.
Think of me as your personal product management mentor: I plan to deliver one highly actionable tip every Saturday morning that you can use to improve your professional and personal skills.
(By the way, I am only one voice. You should absolutely find other mentors. Just make sure they're people who have a track record of delivering real results in a variety of contexts.)
What would you like me to write about? Let me know. I want this newsletter to be a valuable resource for you.
That's it for today.
