You too can be a Product Manager

I got an interesting reaction from a bunch of people with whom I shared "The Blackbox of Product Management" (by Brandon Chu). It looks like while reading it, an image is created around the idea that it's "impossible to bring in someone new to PM, someone without experience, given it is so hard and so important".

Let me share my answer with you, as similar thoughts may have crossed your mind ("could I actually be a ProdMgr? What do I need?")

Moving away from all the complexities and frameworks that support a Product Management body of knowledge, and getting more into a "let's help a new guy be a Product Manager" mode, let me boil it down to a super simple set of arguments that will openly invite someone to consider being a PM.

As with every other change in your career, ramping up in Product Management may be scary. But how hard it gets only depends on how broad is the scope of your responsibilities as a "newcomer". You can quickly become a great PM if you have one of the two following characteristics:

Some domain knowledge and being a data-porn lover — domain experience in the scope of the product gives you a good head start; fetching data like crazy proves you (may) have a point. For enterprise software this "domain knowledge" usually means understanding the industry or the particular technology. For B2C that may simply mean deeply understanding/feeling the problem (after all you're a consumer). This combination helps you describe the details of that problem to the organization with "authority", why it is important (or why it is not), and understand whether it is the right problem that is being solved.
Leadership and getting shit done — you can clearly define a goal, communicate it (and fine tune it) to exhaustion, move people, organize everyone around that goal, create consensus (or support a good passionate discussion). You can answer Why. 23 times. To 40 different people. Every day. An average leader is a great listener. Being a true listener allows you to understand the market, honestly, unbiased, with no preconceptions, and then communicate those insights — the problem — to the rest of the organization. And when everything gets tough... you're not afraid to get your hands dirty.

I see these two characteristics all around in people I work with; in rookies and experts; some stronger, others lighter.

So how can we, being already part of a PM team, help you get started?

Ramping up in PM can be done in a specific section of the product, a smaller set of use cases, a smaller part of the problem. This makes the transition and (your) cost-of-change smaller. Makes it easier for one to feel progression and measure it.

Focusing on some concrete tasks (competitive analysis, designing demos, creating S&M collateral, capturing and organizing customer feedback) consolidates domain expertise.
Owning a specific part of the product (a small section of the roadmap, a detailed part of the offer) will support your ability to answer Why. And that focus will give you the space to grow those leadership skills even more in that specific area.

Deep understanding of the Problem scope (rather than the solution) is what defines a PM. To understand a problem you don't need experience. You need unlimited curiosity.

It's a continuous learning experience, that never ends. And every human being was crafted to learn... so, yes, you too would make a great Product Manager.

PS: By the way... we're hiring Product Managers. What a great opportunity to become one!

Originally published on LinkedIn, November 16, 2015.