Product Leaders Article #1 | Sam Pavitt - Head of Product at Gatekeeper

This is the beginning of a series of articles, from Product Leaders UK, where we'll be exploring different questions, ideas, and methodologies from Product Leaders in the UK.

For this article, I sat down with Sam Pavitt and discussed his thoughts on a number of topics around Product Management and Leadership.

Sam is the Head of Product at Gatekeeper, a next-generation contract and supplier management platform that was born in the cloud and works on any device.

He's been in the Product space for over a decade and has been a great addition to Product Leaders UK Community, so only right he helped us kick off this new series!

What motivated you to get into Product Leadership?

As someone with an equal passion for creativity and technical understanding, pursuing a career in either design or engineering would have left me feeling unfulfilled. Product Leadership offers autonomy above almost all other roles in SaaS, personally, I need that freedom and wide remit of responsibility to do my best work.

In addition, I find working with both customers and engineers to be equally satisfying. I would not be content working solely in a customer-facing role or being sheltered from the end user, as I enjoy the challenge of balancing both perspectives.

What advantages come with a strong Product Team?

A strong Product Team has the ability to set the direction of a company by providing clarity on major milestones throughout the product lifecycle. By aligning all other departments around these milestones, the team is able to continuously achieve success.

In contrast, a weak Product Team can struggle to keep up with the company's direction and fail to meet business objectives, causing frustration and confusion.

Transparency is one of the key benefits of a strong Product Team, as the team can provide the business with clear communication about what is being developed in the short to medium term and consistently deliver on these promises.

What does the future of Product Management look like?

While the fundamental principles of Product Management will remain the same, I anticipate an increasing emphasis on shorter Product Vision Cycles in the coming months and years. The technology curve is exponential, and this forces Product Managers to pivot quickly in response to market trends and ever-changing customer needs.

The days of presenting a 6-month product roadmap are becoming obsolete, and Product Managers need to stay in tune with these shifts to quickly provide tangible solutions to customers' biggest challenges.

How do you navigate hiring for Product Management roles?

The Product Manager interview is notoriously challenging, making it one of the most difficult roles to hire for. When hiring for this position, it is important to look for candidates who exhibit curiosity and ask challenging questions.

A candidate who asks insightful questions about why a feature was built a certain way, for example, demonstrates a positive attitude. Additionally, a good Product Manager should be familiar with trade-offs, technical limitations, performance, and agile delivery, as opposed to simply pointing out one of many ways a feature could be improved.

To further evaluate candidates, it can be helpful to ask them to design a solution for a real-world problem that exists within the company's product. If successful, this exercise can become their first assignment upon joining the team.

If you found this interesting, or want to get involved, please reach out!

Find me at www.wavetalent.co and [email protected]