A Primer for Aspiring Product Managers

Over a period of time, I was asked to help a lot of my colleagues to give guidance to switch their career to Product Owner or Product Manager. This is a quick guide for them to get an idea of how they can acquire sufficient skillset. This helped some of my friends gain knowledge and confidence to transition to these roles.

1. What Product Manager do on a day to day life.

There is no single answer to this. The primary reason for this is 'Product Manager is an all-encompassing role'. They fill the gaps that are left in the organization in addition to playing the Product Owner/Product Leader role. So, it might be varying on what PMs do on a y to day life. One thing that is common is working with Engineering and Design teams to develop features as part of release management.

There is one book that can explain practical product management which I am able to relate very well in my last 10+ years of experience. I recommend reading this book to understand what Product Managers do and get an Idea of 'Is this What You Want To Do !'.

2. Software Product Management Specialization

Go through a structured course to learn what Product Managers do as part of their role. You may have an idea as you may work closely with them. However, doing the job is very different from observing others doing it.

There is one course from Coursera that can help get a very thorough understanding of what Software Product Managers do in an agile environment.

Course Name: Software Product Management Specialization from the University of Alberta (Coursera)

Course Contents:

1. Introduction to Software Product Management
2. Software Processes and Agile Practices
3. Client Needs and Software Requirements
4. Agile Planning for Software Products
5. Reviews & Metrics for Software Improvements
6. Software Product Management Capstone

This is the most affordable certification course in Product Management that I found. And It is worth every penny for those who are aspiring to become Product Managers. It takes anywhere from 3-12 months based on the bandwidth it is available and time to absorb the content.

3. Learn User Experience Design Concepts and Fundaments

UX Design is part of every product development now. Product Managers/ Product Owners usually work very closely with UX Designers to build mockups/wireframes and prototypes. It is important to learn what UX Design principles are so that you can appreciate what the Design team does.

There is one course that I strongly recommend which is very affordable and probably you can keep the certificate part of your resume.

Course Name: User Experience Design Fundamentals by Joe Natoli (Udemy)

Course Content:

There are few books that can give a very good understanding of the fundamentals of User Experience.

• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald. A. Norman
• Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
• About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper
• INSPIRED: How to Create Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

In addition to understanding what UX Design is and how it works, It is also important to learn how to create mockups using tools.

Balsamiq is a great tool for building mockups. You can take any sample website (be it Facebook or Twitter or any e-commerce portal) and create mockups for those sites and you can get them reviewed. It will help you understand how to use the tool and also creating mockups. Both are very important skills a Product Manager should have.

4. Relate your job to what you are learning

As you learn what Product Managers do, you should relate your day to day activities from a PM/PO perspective.

• Play the role if possible wherever you get an opportunity, there is no better way to be PO or PM
• Ask your PM/PO to help you understand the role and what you need to learn. If you are closely working with them, they might know your strengths and weaknesses and suggest what you need to improve
• Talk to Product leadership on what It takes to become part of the team
• Do the assignments like Take a high-level Idea/Epic, convert it into features, and then stories and write the detailed story requirements and compare with what is already written by your Product team. You can understand the differences and can ask your product team what you are missing or what they are missing.
• Read blogs on Product Management activities and tasks and gain exposure

5. Review the Job Descriptions of the Job Roles of the Companies

Even though you learn all the concepts of the world, you might get lost on what you need to learn structurally to get a job or role. This is one of the best ways to build your resume and also identify the checklist of activities that you need to complete before you are ready for Interviews.

Review the Job Description of the Product Manager job descriptions from Microsoft, Oracle, Google, ADP, Service Now, Salesforce and UHG or whichever companies in your area of expertise. This can get influenced by your domain or technological excellence or any other activities.

Example:

• If you have been working in ADP for a long time, then you will have a lot of knowledge of the HCM domain. So, targeting HCM companies or similar domain might make more sense.
• If you are working in the CRM space, then Salesforce, Service Now, Microsoft (Dynamics) or Gain Sight might make sense.

You need to learn a significant part of the skills listed in these Job Descriptions and make it part of your CV/Resume.

This is not a one-time activity. As you learn more, you will understand the Job Description better and you can revise your learning plan and also your Resume/CV. Each statement in the Job Description can be interpreted in many ways depending on the role that you are playing (Beginner Vs Intermediate Vs Advanced). As you learn more and more, your perception of the Job Description will also change to consider a lot more responsibilities.

This is one of the key aspects that every product manager needs to do to upskill themselves against market requirements or the latest happenings in engineering and product management space.

6. Prepare for Interviews

It is very difficult to predict how the Product Management Interviews are going to be like. Usually, the following aspects are tested.

• Problem-solving skills (Case Interviews)
• Behavioral skills
• Cross-functional leadership
• Your real-time experience

There are good books that can prepare you will for what to come in these Interviews.

• Decode and Conquer
• Cracking PM Interview

The following blog provides great insight into preparing Product Management Interviews:

• https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-crush-product-management-case-interviews-pt12-sarthak-handa/
• https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-crush-product-management-case-interviews-pt22-sarthak-handa/

These 6 steps can help anyone prepare well for those who are new to the Product Management role. Blogs are one of the best ways to gain knowledge and insight into what is happening in Product Management space.

The following websites can help a deep Insight into Product Management.

• https://www.productplan.com/ Product Plan published a lot of books that are very helpful for Product Managers. You can explore these books and read them to understand how things are done.
• https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/ Pragmatic framework for Product Management will include comprehensive skills that product manager's should have both for Inbound and Outbound Product Management.
• https://www.romanpichler.com/ Understanding Agile framework