Charting Your Career in Product Management
An ondemand Webinar by Productboard and Steven Haines
You’re a product management professional. Just like any profession, there’s a progression path that you can follow.
I joined a webinar by Product Board, hosted by Dominic Corsaro in Partnership with Steven Haines of Sequent Learning Networks.
In this webinar, Steven Haines, author of The Product Manager’s Survival Guide and The Product Manager’s Desk Reference, helped create a purposeful professional development strategy so anyone can get ahead in their career.
Steven Haines is a product Leader with over two Decades of experience from Oracle, AT&T, he was a member of the board of Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and a couple of other companies, he has seen lot from a product managers and finance 8perspective.
Introduction:
From his experience and research, there weren’t great techniques for career planning, 90% of product managers couldn’t describe what was needed for their promotion.
He had been Running Sequent Learning Networks for over a decade, he has other companies where he trains non product individuals.
He set out the Ultimate goal of the Program :
Following a Five steps process to create a purposeful professional Development Strategy.
Body :
He Defined who a product manager is :
A product manager, Like any Leader, is a Life Long Learner and Business practitioner. Product Managers are individuals who Learn from every situation they encounter and everyone they meet. Make sure to take good notes and keep track of your progress. As an artist, you will keep a portfolio. Take good career notes.
PM Strategy formulation Process ( Strategic Planning)
Past & Present
What have I accomplished?
What competencies have I developed?
What data do I have?
Synthesis
SWOT
Pivot Point
Future
What do I envision for my next role(s)? — Vision
What goals should I focus on? — Goals
What steps should I take to achieve those goals? — Strategy
How will I measure my success? — Metrics
5 Steps to Follow
ASSESS. — CORE COMPETENCIES AND EXPERIENCE
EXAMINE. — ATTRIBUTES, BEHAVIORS, and JOB SATISFACTION
EVALUATE. — JOB HISTORY & CREATE YOUR PM CAREER INDEX
SYNTHESIZE — FORM INSIGHTS ABOUT YOUR CAREER AND POSSIBLE DIRECTION
DEVELOP — CREATE YOUR VISION AND STRATEGY AND CHART NEXT STEPS
- Assess Core Competencies
What’s a Core Competency?
The combined knowledge, skills, and experiences of an employee. Sometimes referred to as a ‘capability’.
Measurable elements:
Knowledge — what you know
Application — what you do
He put up a Core Competencies and the PM Life Cycle Model, that showed Knowledge and experience across all aspects of the product life cycle. the dark blue sections (Product Strategy formulation, Post launch performance management, Customer & Market insights) of the chart were data driven sections while the Light blue sections ( Product Planning and prioritization {Concept Feasibility Definition}, Product Development and Introduction- {Development-Launch}, {Designing | Prototyping | Experimenting | Iterating | Releasing }] were tactical sections.
If you fold the core competence model horizontally you will find out that product strategy formulation comes after you have done a post launch analysis which allows you to re-strategise.
He further broke down the Life Cycle model in Detail showing what PM’s do.
Next he Segmented the Core Competencies and life cycle model into eight CLUSTERS.
He further explained the Core Competency Clusters with an experience and Impact table ,
The experience falls on Different levels from Low, Medium to High. From this you add up or Average your scores ( median). This allows you to put yourself on a rafting scale, this can be done by you.
You can further put this on a scale that rates your experience with your job history. You put a total score for each Job and its gives you an idea of progress or regression or what’s need to be improved upon.
2. Job Attributes and Behaviors. ( Ratable by You and Your Boss)
Characteristics you exhibit
What’s observed by others
Perceptions you create (collaborator, leader, coach)
Job Satisfaction
What you do and what is Seen by others.
Behavior is something seen by others.
Every decision made in Business has a financial implication.
No. X price = Revenue.
You rates on a table by levels of Evidence from Low — Medium — High. You now place it by each Job and put in a total score. you also rate how you feel about your work environment.
3. Evaluate Your Job History.
Aggregate your Data
Plot Your scores in a career life cycle model to create your product management career index.
All together this evaluative measures are put on a single table and measured. With this you can create your own Product management career index. (PMCI)
You can plot a graph here to see your progresss.
4. Synthesis of Evaluative Data and Pivot Point.
SWOT
S- Results or outcomes deemed indicators of success
W- Results or outcomes that have NOT been achieved due to a lack of knowledge, experience, or a developed attribute
O- Pivot Point: What are your next steps and why?
T- Who else or what else might do a better job and what might threaten your stature, progress, or career?
5. Career Vision and Goals
The next year?
Your next job?
Another company?
You can write out your Career Vision Statement and Explicit Goals.
Determining Next Steps and Establishing Measures
Work with your manager to review your own self-assessment, vision statement, and goals.
Fine tune the explicit steps you need to take with clear time-frames and outcomes (measurable).
Establish a feedback loop with your boss to ensure you’re on track (keep him/her informed).
Keep track your professional attributes and behaviors by checking in with your boss and peers.
Make sure to document in your achievements for your performance reviews.
You are your own best advocate….
Advocate for Yourself
No one will take your career as seriously as you
Your bosses will come and go… like an artist, keep track of your portfolio of accomplishments
Share what you learned with others so they can benefit
Closing Thoughts:
Things I’ve Learned In My Career You can be self-reliant, but you really can’t do it all yourself — you have to be a collaborator.
More things go wrong and things are always harder than they seem — you have to be resilient.
If you can’t see it, you can’t do it — and you cannot lead if you can’t get others to see what you see.
Help others- it makes you smarter and adds to your credibility.( Help Others till it Hurts)
No one empowers you — you empower yourself.
You can’t escape people in your company who either don’t get it
or don’t want to do it — or just put up obstacles — you gotta figure it out.
Your customers teach you what you need to do — so you have to spend a lot of time with them — they need you.
During the Q and A Session Steven Haines answered questions on Product Strategies, Product Owners, Product Management, Project Managers(Finite Projects), Cross functional teams. Technical expertise of a PM, Product Led, Strategic Advantage.
In a Startup the CEO is the Product manager.
My take away from this Webinar is to have more journaling and accountability in all my work as a product manager and as an individual who wants to mentor other individuals in the future.