How To Play The Game
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I see a lot of bad advice on how to be a good product manager.
> Be Agile (with a capital 'A').
> Get a certification.
> Go deep on technical skills.
> Have a "product mindset".
> Develop "product sense".
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I've written earlier about the 6 most critical skills for a product manager. The purpose of this article is to share my honest perspective on what is required to be an insanely good product manager.
By insanely good I mean one who is truly able to make impactful contributions to drive the business forward, one who is valued and sought after, one who is less likely to have career blocks, and more likely to be able to advance and find new opportunities even when between jobs. And one who is more likely to enjoy the financial rewards that come with it.
If some of this will sound tough, it's because it is.
The reality is that everything in life comes at a price. If your goal is to be have an insanely successful career, then you need to be clear-eyed in understanding the price you will have to pay to achieve that end. If it's a price you're willing to pay, great, go for it. If not, I'm sure you can have a decent career that pays the bills.
The point is that this is your life. You get to choose what you want.
If you want a successful career in product management AND enjoy a good life, you need to understand the game you're in and how to play it. You need to know the right questions to ask, so that you can live by design, not default.
A career of intention. Not a career at the mercy of billionaires.
Here's my honest advice if you want to have a successful career as a product manager:
1) Always create value.
Brutal truth: in business, what's valued most is business results.
Your career progression is a direct byproduct of the value you create.
You aren't rewarded for hard work.
You're rewarded for making an impact.
Deliver outcomes that matter to the business.
Understand results that are valued in the company you're in. Tie all your activity to those results. Then (humbly) brag about them.
2) You're not owed anything.
People seem to think, "I deserve it."
I doesn't work like that.
"I worked really hard this past year. I deserve that promotion."
So did Sally, Jose, Priya, and Mark. They can't all be promoted.
You have to fight to keep your seat at the table.
You do that by constantly proving yourself.
And when you get promoted or get that "better" job, you haven't "arrived" - you've just earned the right to prove yourself again.
3) Delivering results supersedes being the best teammate.
This is a true story. Names not included for confidentiality reasons.
A company was facing a round of layoffs as a result of a merger. Redundant roles had to be eliminated.
There were 2 PMs. One was liked by everyone. Nice guy. Always available. But a bit slow to execute. It took him over a month to develop a roadmap for his product.
The other was generally well liked, though had some areas of improvement in terms of her personal relationships.
But she had a clear roadmap, was delivering on her goals, and impacting customers and revenue.
When time came, the CEO/Founder chose to let him go instead of her.
"Great guy. Everyone liked him. It was a really tough decision to let him go."
Her track record of results helped her win. With mentorship and coaching, her personal relationship skills improved as well.
I don't mean you should be a jerk. PMs can't operate without effective teamwork.
And product management requires demonstrating strong leadership skills.
This does not mean being available to everyone at all times.
- Sitting on Slack or emails ready to respond to the latest request.
- Joining every last minute sync.
- Actively taking on every initiative.
- Always being available and offering to help anyone and everyone.
PMs who do that give up their agency by trying to be a "good teammate".
You become a commodity. It hurts your influence.
And you're more likely to be let go in the next round of layoffs.
4) Stop worrying about what some FAANG company or Silicon Valley entrepreneur or VC is saying about product management.
That's energy wasted. They have a myopic and hubristic view.
Instead, spend your time figuring out how to 2-3x your impact either where you are or where you want to be.
Figure out what it takes to succeed in your local area.
Track the macro. Act for the micro.
5) Your employer is not responsible for developing your career.
You are.
Corporate-sponsored and employer-provided career training is primarily a retention tactic.
Find out what skills you need to develop. Then invest in developing those.
Find out what outcomes you need to deliver. Then prioritize work that delivers those.
โHere's a guide.
6) Know the game you're in.
Our wet dream as product managers is to work in a company that's "product-led" and has wonderful, brilliant, empathetic, strategic, visionary, inspiring leadership with completely rational organizational processes and heavenly cultures.
Watch out for "sales-led", "tech-led", "engineering-led" companies, we're told.
Ranting about corporate dysfunction on LinkedIn or Reddit is cathartic.
None of which drive career success.
Because we always have to go back and play the game.
Wherever you are, whichever company you're in, whatever organization you're a part of, know the game you're in.
Understand what's valued in the organization you're in. How the culture works. How decisions are made. What's truly respected. Who advances and why.
Then play to win that game.
If you don't like that game, you can try to change it (hard), find a new game more to your liking (a little less hard), or create your own game (super hard).
7) Being in a startup means limited work/life balance.
Being in a startup sounds sexy.
Innovation. Disruption. Stock options.
Startup life is different. It just is.
A startup's sole focus is growth.
There is no 9-5. It means being switched on almost all the time.
Maybe you get a weekend off... unless the system goes down, a big customer is super upset, or you're in the midst of a major launch.
There may not be set career paths. Or a standardized performance review process. Or any sort of clear organizational structure.
The org chart is probably a mess.
Being in a startup requires an enterprising personality with a high degree of willingness to work in ambiguity.
The opportunity in joining a startup is to make an outsized impact.
The challenge is if you'd like to work just 40 hours a week, that's not going to happen. And you might even soon find yourself left by the curbside.
8) Being in a large company doesn't mean job security.
Higher pay. Better benefits. Fancy office building. Corporate treats. Free snacks. Predictable career ladder. Maybe even an amazing cafeteria.
That doesn't mean you have a guaranteed job. Even if your performance has been solid.
The company faced a bad year or quarter. Perhaps due to forces outside its control. It happens. Now it has to make cuts. And you get caught in that.
Not your fault. Super sucks. Feels totally unfair. (And it is.)
Yet, here you are.
So, it's vital you're constantly growing your skills, building a resume of results, and nurturing your network.
That way, if you do face a bad situation, you're ready to pick yourself up and hit the ground running.
Do this while you have the job, when it's much easier.
Way harder to do when you don't have a job.
9) Salesmanship is more valuable than intelligence.
You need to learn to sell:
- Yourself.
- Your work.
- Your ideas.
- Your vision.
- Your value.
- Your team.
Many of the most successful product managers and leaders I know aren't the smartest. They just know how to sell. They know a "no" is just a step to getting a "yes" and they figure out how to get it.
10) Promotion involves impressing the right people.
Call it playing politics, if it helps you sleep better at night.
The harsh truth is other humans are in power to make judgments on your performance and decide if you're ready for the next level.
In a startup, it may be the founders.
In a mid-sized company, it may be the executive team and their lieutenants.
In a large enterprise company, it may be your 9-box talent grid.
Understand (1) how promotion decisions are made, (2) what skills are required, (3) what results are required, and (4) who you need to impress.
Pro tip 1: It's not everyone.
Pro tip 2: It's always your boss. If you don't like your boss, then get a new one.
I wrote an earlier article about getting promoted to Director.
11) Time is your most valuable asset.
When you're young, you have limited skills, networks, resources, or money.
Time is all you have to give.
So use it to learn as much as you can. Trade your time for learning new skills, knowledge, experiences, networks, and impressing the right people.
As you get older and more experienced, optimize your time for maximizing impact, developing as a leader, and nurturing relationships.
All product managers should over-index on spending time in the market.
The more time we spend in Jira, Slack, and responding to requests, the less product management we actually do.
12) Demonstrate energy and excellence in everything you do.
Top performers show up with energy and enthusiasm for the little things as much as they do for the big things.
They don't whine. They don't blame.
They focus on moving forward and getting things done.
You don't have to be passionate about your work. (Though it helps, of course.) You just need to find energy in it.
When you have energy for something, you figure it out. And you succeed.
If you're in the top 10%, you know it.
If you're not, find out why and fix it.
13) Contribute extraordinary input.
If you want extraordinary outcomes, you need to contribute extraordinary input.
- Customer and market insights.
- Actionable data insights.
- Ability to think ahead, anticipate risks, and plan contingencies.
- Key learnings that can be translated to actionable strategies.
14) Be consistently reliable.
A mentor once told me: "You'll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than being occasionally extraordinary."
People want to do business with people they can rely on. Being reliable is a durable competitive advantage.
15) Be likable.
People want to do business with people they like.
I don't mean you need to please everyone and win a popularity contest.
I mean your attitude and approach with people. Being pleasant, professional, empathetic, and solution-oriented.
Said more plainly: don't be a jerk.
Being likable is a durable competitive advantage.
16) Build a reputation for figuring it out.
There's no one more valuable than someone who can just figure it out.
Most expect their boss, manager, company to tell them what to do or provide direction.
Sure, having leadership support, clear goals, a coherent strategy, and conditions for successful execution all help.
The ones who get ahead are those who can take ownership in conditions of ambiguity.
Don't ask for permission. Ask key questions, get it done.
People will fight over you.
17) Self-perception is your greatest career liability.
If your perception of your own value exceeds reality, you will never advance in your career.
Your lack of self-awareness and ego will cause you to constantly be chasing "more" - something that seems tantalizingly close, yet so very far.
Manage your own expectations carefully. Know your true value. If it's not to your liking, swallow that humble pie and get to work fixing it.
18) Know your market value.
It doesn't matter what you think your value is. It's what the market perceives it to be.
Your employer has assigned you a value. You learn that every year when they hand out bonuses.
Option 1 is to stick to that and hope one day they recognize your efforts.
Living on your 1-3% annual pay raise is certainly an option.
Option 2 is to test the market. The best time to look for a job is when you have a job.
You don't have to take it, but you'll know exactly how to market values you.
If the market values you more than your employer, you can use that as leverage with your employer or seek a better opportunity.
If your employer and the market value you below what you think your value is, reset your expectations, understand the gap, and get to work.
19) Live well below your means.
The ability to live well below your means is a huge advantage for achieving long-term financial stability.
Before seeking more pay, focus on growing the gap between your cash inflows and cash outflows. Live on a budget. Stick to it.
Not fun, but it works really, really well.
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