Product Leaders Article #3 | Peter James - Vice President Of Product Strategy at Digimarc

This is the third article 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?Peter James and discussed his thoughts on a number of topics around Product Management and Leadership.

Peter is the Vice President Of Product Strategy at Digimarc , Digimarc is a global leader in product digitisation, delivering business value across industries through unique identities and cloud-based solutions.

What does a Product Leader’s day-to-day look like?

I guess the beauty of a role in product is that there is so much variety in each day - at least that is why I enjoy my role so much. But having said that, there are ongoing responsibilities and activities that ensure everything stays on track and progress continues to be made.

I’m a big believer in the implementation of good process - and by good process I mean one that is appropriate to the maturity, size and organization of the company and product portfolio and that empowers people to do their jobs, not one that acts as a straight jacket. So, attending to these processes is a key activity to ensure that the team are able to perform as expected and as promised to the business.

Leading the product function is also all about communication and collaboration, so meetings are a very key feature of my day, especially in the fully remote position that I’m currently in.

And where would we be without data. Keeping abreast of the products’ data and trends and looking at what is going on in the wider market and in Product is key to staying ahead and continually learning.

What are the main skills of a strong product leader?

Hmm, good question. For me, there are a few critical considerations: competence as a product manager, collaboration, communication, inquisitiveness, passion and being humble.

Product isn’t the kind of function where you can lead it just by being a good people manager. You need to be an active product leader as well as a function leader. I like to think of the product function as the driving force of a product led company so everyone in the function needs to be actively contributing to that and understand how their contribution adds to the whole - and that all comes from the leader.

Collaboration and communication I hope are a given, but inquisitiveness and passion isn’t something that I see in all leaders. If you don’t have passion for your product then how can you expect people to follow your lead and have passion and drive themselves? And you have to stay keen and hungry to learn more and continue to push the product forwards. There are plenty of knock-backs and challenges in this role, you have to see them all as part of the journey and opportunities to learn to stay on course.

And finally, being humble. You mustn’t ever believe that you have all the answers and will always be right. Have a position, of course, but have reasons for that position and be prepared to adjust it based on new inputs. The exciting part of Product is the need to stay nimble and react to inputs, you can’t do that effectively if you get too caught up in your own opinions.

What does the high number of layoffs mean to the industry?

Outside of the awful immediate impact this is having on individuals, I hope that over time this is a net positive for everyone. I know that for me personally moving to a new company or a new industry creates the opportunity for learning and experiencing new environments, technologies, processes, etc. that I wouldn’t get from staying in one place. Product Management is still evolving as a function and getting as much exposure to different environments and ways of working to continue to hone your craft and learn what best looks like is really powerful.

I also think that a lot of people shy away from start ups or smaller companies worrying about job security, and these types of broad layoffs that we are seeing show that there really is no difference in that with a large company, so hopefully it will open people up to a wider range of companies and help with recruitment at start ups. I’ve certainly struggled with hiring as part of a start up due to this.

How are you navigating hiring?

Hiring is the hardest part of my job as a product leader. It is so difficult to assess candidates based on their CV and relatively short interviews. There is so much ‘book knowledge’ on what you should do as a product manager that getting to really understand what a candidate has done, what they contributed, and how, rather than what they think they should say based on best practice is a real challenge.

Having a good partner in a recruitment agency that specializes in product hires is definitely a benefit as they get to spend more time with candidates and can understand the type of product manager you are looking for better and help filter out candidates that wouldn’t suit you.

But ultimately it is about chemistry and how well you can work together. In my hiring process I try to put candidates into a product scenario that acts as a conversation starter for us to explore a challenge together. It gives us both a chance to learn about how we work together and moves us into a real scenario and out of ‘book’ answers. It can sound a bit daunting, but is actually a pretty good experience for both sides I believe - and can be very telling.

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

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