The shift into product management is a hot topic, especially given the on-going changes in the job market.
Let’s break down how people transition into product management, the career paths within the field, and what it’s like to become a people manager in product management.
How to Get into Product Management
A quick search will provide hundreds of posts on how to get into product management.
Everyone’s path to product management is unique. Some come from engineering, some from elsewhere. There are great product managers and product marketing managers with backgrounds in sales, marketing, development, support, and services, as well as design, finance… well, almost anywhere.
I find that developers tend to focus more on the technical bits of product creation, while former salespeople often get caught up in the needs of a single client. Product management requires thinking about the needs of the many, not the few.
My path was atypical: programmer, sales engineer, sales rep, product marketing manager, product manager, director, and VP. In these roles, I did programming, selling, training, and marketing. In each case, I leveraged a current role to move into the next role. Since then, I have been a product management instructor and product coach.
Throughout my career, I have cultivated valuable skills in both sales and technical roles. In sales, I have honed my ability to effectively engage with customers, fostering strong relationships and driving business growth. Conversely, in technical roles, I have developed a knack for clearly articulating complex technical issues, enabling my technical team to prioritize and resolve them efficiently.
Leverage Your Current Role. My first product role resulted from a sales training program I created for a product I understood well. This brought me to the attention of the product's head of Marketing.
Many roles, especially business analysts, UX researchers, and designers, are already deeply involved in product-related activities. When discussing a move into product management, highlight the overlap in skills, such as understanding customer needs, translating them into requirements, collaborating with engineering, and measuring product success. Demonstrating this to hiring managers is key.
Take on Product Management-like Responsibilities. If you're currently in a technical role, start taking on more strategic responsibilities. Volunteer to lead small projects such as sales training, participate in team exercises such as prioritization or roadmapping, or lend a hand with go-to-market activities. This gives you practical product management experience.
Education and Certifications. While formal education in product management is rarely required, certifications from firms such as Product Growth Leaders can help fill gaps. It’s also worth reading up on key product management topics like product strategy, roadmapping, prioritization, and metrics.
Network and Mentorship. Reach out to product managers within your organization or externally. Having someone guide you through the nuances of the role can give you a leg up. Additionally, attending industry events, webinars, or even participating in product management communities can open doors to new opportunities.
Understand the Business. Product management is about more than just product delivery—it’s about driving business outcomes. Make sure you understand how your current work impacts the larger business goals and focus on building strong communication and leadership skills.
Career Paths in Product Management
Once you're in product management, there are different paths you can take.
Product Path
Technical Product Manager (PM). In a smaller company, you own a product or a significant feature set and manage its entire lifecycle from ideation to launch. In larger companies, the product manager role is often more focused on technology and release planning.
Product Marketing Manager (PMM) or Product Growth Manager. Coming from a sales or marketing team, product marketing is an excellent first product management role. In larger organizations, product marketing managers typically focus on product growth, handling the launch and go-to-market aspects of product management, often partnering with the technical product manager.
Principal Product Manager: This is a highly experienced individual contributor role. The principal often owns a portfolio of products and works on broader product strategy but does not have people management responsibilities.
People Path
Group Product Manager (GPM). Half product manager and half people manager, you manage other product managers while still owning the strategy for a product area.
Director of Product Management. As a director, you manage a team of product managers, align product initiatives with business goals, and work closely with executives.
VP of Product Management. This is a more strategic and cross-functional role, overseeing the entire product function, ensuring alignment with the company's vision, and collaborating with other senior leaders.
Chief Product Officer (CPO). The pinnacle of product management leadership, overseeing the whole product organization and driving the company’s product strategy.
What Happens When You Become a People Manager?
Becoming a people manager introduces an entirely new set of challenges. While you still need to think strategically about your portfolio of products, you’re now more responsible for people and processes. Your people are your products.
Defining Strategy and Alignment. Your focus will shift towards shaping the overall portfolio and product strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals, and guiding your product management team members.
Team Development. As a people manager, you guide and mentor your team of product managers. This involves coaching them on product strategy and stakeholder management and ensuring they grow in their roles.
Scaling and Delegating. As a product leader, you’ll no longer be able to be hands-on with every product decision. This is where delegation and trust in your team become vital. You’ll need to be able to step back and empower your team to execute while keeping an eye on the bigger picture.
Upskilling your Teams. Alas, only 40% of product managers have received any form of training in product management. Evaluate your team members’ skills and develop a training plan to bring them up to speed.
Defining and Optimizing Your Processes. Many teams operate without a consistent process. Or you may have a process that needs to be redefined for your organization's current maturity. Use the Quartz Open Framework to define the outputs and outcomes for each step from idea to market.
Navigating Organizational Politics. As a leader, you’ll often have to mediate between competing priorities from executives, marketing, engineering, and customer success teams. The ability to influence without direct authority becomes critical.
Hiring and Retaining Talent. Hiring the right product managers and ensuring they’re engaged and motivated becomes part of your role. Building a strong product team is one of your key contributions to the organization.
Challenges
Lack of relevant experience in a product management role presents a challenge for some people managers. After all, it's hard to mentor the team when the senior person doesn't understand the roles and contributions of product management. One team I admire assigns each new product manager to a senior or principal product manager for mentoring. They focus on many of the people aspects as well as how things get done in the organization, such as where to find stuff, who to call, and how to share product information with stakeholders.
A confusing scenario occurs when a senior product professional wears both hats: people and product. But that's the case with most directors and VPs. They wear both hats. They often spend more time developing portfolio and product strategy, and not enough time developing our people. In particular, our teams must learn to talk like leaders, focusing as much or more on financials and outcomes than features and outputs.
As a people manager, continuing investment in professional development shows your commitment to your team and their careers. When planning your budgets, estimate 3% of their salaries for training, coaching, and conferences.
While there are straightforward ways to transition into product management, and the paths within the discipline can take you to new heights, becoming a people manager requires a significant shift in focus—from product details to people, processes, and organizational strategy. It’s less about managing a product and more about grooming a team that can deliver amazing products.
Managing a team of product managers? Download a copy of the Professional Growth Plan spreadsheet, which you can tailor to the activities that align with your organization.
Skill, experience, and interest
Ask each person to indicate their skill level, experience, and interest for each activity you expect from an experienced team member.
