Ask me anything #1
Here I answer questions asked about getting into product roles and other product-related subjects. You can always ask me anything and your questions could be answered in a future post.
How did you get into product management?
I was working as a recruitment consultant for a company that had Job Application Management product, which was used by some large corporate companies to manage the thousands of applications they received each year.
The company needed someone to build relationships with these corporate clients and understand what they needed from the application management software, so I started visiting the clients, understanding their goals and their pain points, and then bringing this information back to the business in the form of requirements documents (this was in the days before user stories in the likes of Jira!).
Once I started doing that I never looked back, as speaking to customers and figuring out what they want to achieve and how we can support that is to me the most interesting part of a product management job.
What's your favourite question to ask potential product managers?
I covered my top ten interview questions a while ago in this post, and my favourite is 'How do you measure the value of a product manager?'.
I think this is a tough one for the potential PM to answer as there isn't a straightforward response, however, as someone recruiting for a role it tells me a lot about how they think about the priorities of a PM.
How do you get product experience without being in a product role?
The good news is that the skills needed to be a product manager are wide, and the types of product managers that organisations need are varied, so that means you already have some product experience even without having held a product role..
Your relationship-building skills count, your communication abilities count, your technical knowledge, your product design experience, and many more attributes you've built up from your previous roles will count as valuable experience.
When it comes to getting some with the word 'product' in it on your CV, then look for opportunities within your current organisation to help out the product team. You can also look to volunteer for a local organisation or seek some work experience or an internship in order to get some of the direct experience you seek.