This was the problem I faced when I left a large corporate product management team and joined a SME. And I had exactly the same experience when I joined a startup a couple of years later.

What could I do that would make a difference? As the first and only product management hire, I had a lot of self-imposed pressure to make an impact, so I was keen to find a silver bullet!

Both times, it became apparent that having the right product management process in place would be a great place to start.

3 Tech Team Problems in Any Business

I’ve worked with lots of different tech teams since then, and I’ve seen the same problems again and again:

• Large, unmanageable backlogs in the development team’s tool (Trello, Jira, Pivotal Tracker etc)
• Bottlenecks in story development, preventing development teams from working on chunkier, high-value features
• Difficulty in prioritizing which ideas should be worked on by the product and development teams

The symptoms of these problems are pretty clear to spot – lots of work started, little work finished. Lots of bug fixes and small changes delivered, but the high-value changes seem to fester and never quite get released. Frustration by business stakeholders (and customers) that their feedback isn’t acted upon. A general feeling that the product backlog is a place where ideas go to die.

A few simple changes and a good process can help!

Breathe Life Into Ideas Outside Your Development Backlog

First, get that big list of ideas out of the development tool. They don’t belong there, and just act as a distraction for a team that needs to focus on delivery of high-priority changes. The development toolset is about delivery, not ideation and discovery.

Turn Ideas Into a Manageable Backlog

Second, think about how you can work that big bucket of ideas down to a manageable backlog. Prioritization isn’t just about deciding what the development team should work on, it’s also about working out where to spend product management time. The product manager is expected to spend time in the marketplace, to understand user problems and work out where changes could have a big impact on user satisfaction, adoption, retention and ultimately revenue. How is that possible if you spend all your time writing user stories and specifications?

This is where process comes in. The first step in your process is to identify which ideas are potentially of high value to the business. Of course, you already have a vision for your product and you know your company objectives, so you can use those as a guide for which ideas score highly. If it helps, work with your senior management team to define a set of criteria for your impact score – for example, ideas that fill a competitive gap or are likely to be revenue earning could score highly, whereas a single request from one customer might result in a low score – until you get more requests, anyway.

Once you have that impact score, you can decide which ideas need a development estimate. After all, there’s little point asking for an estimate where the feature isn’t likely to be developed. Straight away, you’ve reduced the burden on your developers – they’ll love you for it! You’ve also reduced that bucketful of ideas down to a more manageable list – good news for everyone.

Hone Your Prioritization Technique

At this point, let’s cast our minds back to an old story that appears in lots of different guises, but is designed to help with prioritization. A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up an empty Mason jar and filled it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asked if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was full.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They chuckled and agreed that it was indeed full this time.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar. If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. Finally, the professor opens a bottle of beer and pours it into the jar, where it soaks into the sand, filling the final gaps.

The story goes on to talk about making the big things in your life (family, friends, health, happiness) a priority before the small stuff like cleaning your house – a philosophy I heartily support! It also points out that after prioritizing everything you need to do, there is always room for beer with a friend!

The same principle applies to prioritizing your workload. If you spend all your time on “sand” tasks – bug fixing, small usability changes – you won’t have enough time to take on the high-value, complex tasks like refactoring an inefficient piece of code, or developing that big new feature you’ve discussed for months. The point here is that it’s important to prioritize the high-value ideas first, even if they represent significant effort.

So let’s regroup! We had a big list of ideas, and by assigning an impact score we’ve reduced it to a list we’d like to get estimated. We now have a list of ideas with both impact and effort, and can start to plan which ones we tackle first – we’re going for the rocks first, and filling in with pebbles and sand where it makes sense. Who knows, at the end, maybe we’ll get that beer when we celebrate the release!

By taking this approach we are focusing our product management time on ideas that make sense, rather than every idea on the list. Hurray, we have more time for customer interviews, competitive research and the myriad other ways of collecting market feedback!

Let’s fast forward a little. We’ve identified the right ideas to be working on, and we’ve worked with UX, customers and business stakeholders to prepare user requirements, user stories, designs, wireframes and anything else we need to hand over to development.

What do we do Next?

It’s highly beneficial to have a formal kick-off meeting, one which sets the scene for the entire team to succeed in building the right thing, and building it right. The meeting should take the form of a 30-60 minute call, and only go ahead where there is representation from product management, UX, development and QA. It’s worth making a particular point of including the developer(s) who will be working on the change, and include a lead developer or architect – whoever is responsible for the technical design.

Start the meeting by reviewing the idea, focusing on the problem to be solved and the expected outcome. Review user stories, specifications, designs etc, and generally ensure that everyone has a shared understanding of WHAT is required, WHY it is required and HOW it is to be built and tested.

At the end of the kick-off meeting, when everyone is happy with the path forward, the user requirements/designs etc can be pushed into the developer’s backlog – likely to be in Jira, Trello, Pivotal Tracker or similar. From this point on the team are focused on delivering a well-defined change, and the chance of rework due to misunderstanding is vastly reduced. Of course, questions will crop up during the development process, but that’s all part and parcel of agile development.

Let’s fast forward again, to the point of release. The development team have worked hard to deliver a new, valuable feature, and everyone has agreed that they’re getting what is expected. Does the process end there? No, of course not! We need to learn about how successful our new feature is. Is it well adopted? Does it solve the problem? That product management process should cover steps for validation and measurement – going back to check on success is an essential part of the product management process, and not to be forgotten.

The post How to Make a Big Impact as a New Product Manager in the First 30 Days appeared first on ProdPad.

What is a Product Manager?

Product Managers generally lead and work across teams to get their product designed, built and launched. They’re responsible for getting data, analytics and expertise together and making the final call on product decisions.

In reality, that comes down to handling a lot of little pieces at once: managing the product backlog, maintaining the roadmap, getting stakeholder buy-in, talking to customers, and coordinating multiple teams to ensure you’re all working towards the same goals.

This is no small task – it involves a lot of people wrangling. In fact, the most important qualification a Product Manager brings to the table is their ability to work with people.

In the following Slideshare, you’ll see that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a former pizza store manager or a violinist.

What really matters is how good you are at getting people from different areas of the company, with different agendas and motivations, to unite behind your vision.

How do you find the right Product Manager experience?

Our Co-Founder Janna Bastow got her first Product Manager experience after a few months on the job as a customer support rep at a software company. The company was a mess, and she found herself instinctively sitting there putting the pieces together. For example, she was spending all day talking to angry customers about the same problems with no end in sight.  

So she started writing out and handing over detailed solutions for the development team – those are known as product specs, as she found out later.

Her manager noticed that she had a knack for the job and formally promoted her to Product Manager.

So that’s one way to go about it – be an accidental Product Manager until someone finally notices.
But really, here’s what you need to keep in mind. If you’re actively looking to make the jump to product management, it’s important for you to identify your talents, interests and strengths so you can land a job where you can make the most impact.

All Product Manager roles aren’t created equal: product management jobs vary by industry, company and even sometimes by department.

When you’re looking for a new job, these are the factors you should consider:

Do you want a creative or technical role?

When you’re looking at job listings, you’ll find that there is a wide range of product jobs out there. Some companies are seeking candidates with creative skills while others are looking for someone more technical to help maintain an existing product.

There’s a lot of advice on Quora about finding the right product role, which you should definitely consider:

“One company might have a Product Manager that’s primarily focused around business, market analysis, business relationships, etc with only a little bit on the creative and the technical side.  Another might have a greater focus on UI/UX and design, or (you guessed it) the technical aspects.”

Think about which type of role plays to your strengths. If you want the creative license to build something entirely new, you might want to focus your job search on companies that are looking for a candidate like you.

In contrast, you’re likely to find yourself working in a more predictable environment, look for roles working with existing products.

Are you passionate about the product or field you’ll be working in?

You can narrow your job search down significantly if you focus on products you’re passionate about. Remember that as a Product Manager, you’re responsible for setting the product’s vision and direction. Good luck doing that for a product you don’t care about.

What’s your passion? Healthcare? Fintech? Travel? Beauty? There are tons of products out there that you can make your mark on. Take the time to think about what you really want to do and where you really want to make an impact.

Sure, you can think of it as just a job. But being passionate about your product will really make the difference for both your career and the people you work with.

Make those long hours worth it.

Are you working with the right culture?

The term “culture fit” comes with a lot of baggage, but it’s almost a necessary term. When you’re considering companies to work with, look closely at whether you’ll be working in an environment where you can succeed.

Does the company have a supportive culture? Do they have the right values in place?

Do people who work there feel like they are valued? Will you be able to test new ideas? Will you encouraged or discouraged from bringing change into the organization?

You can glean this kind of information just by talking to people who already work there. If they’re happy at their company, that will shine through in the way they talk about their experience there.

Look also at whether the company has benefits and perks that will help you keep learning while you’re on the job. Will you have access to a mentor? Will you have a budget for attending conferences and workshops throughout the year? Will you have a budget for getting your company set up with the right tools and processes?

It’s a good sign if a company has these things lined up already!

II. Getting hired as a Product Manager

Make yourself visible

Get plugged into the online #prodmgmt community:

If you’re new to the world of product management, I have good news for you. The online product management community is both active and incredibly welcoming to newbies.

Here are the first steps you should take:

Get yourself set up on Quora and Medium where there’s already a lot of chatter.

Join any of these online communities for Product Managers

Follow these top product management people on Twitter

You can get plugged into the conversation on Twitter right away: get started by following #prodmgmt and #productmanagement.

Feeling shy? Get yourself started by leaving comments on other people’s work. Not only will that be highly appreciated, but the more you write and tweet, the more visibility you get. All this will go a long way in helping you break into the network.

Network and attend meetups:

Being online is great, but nothing beats good old-fashioned going out and meeting people in real life.  

Product Managers attend meetups not just to keep up with the industry, but also to potentially recruit new hires. If you’re serious about looking for a new job, it’s not a bad idea to mention it while you’re mingling with new folks you meet at these events.

Even if they’re not hiring, chances are they know someone who is.

The following events are pretty popular and well-attended – find an event near you!

ProductTank: Monthly meetups for Product Managers in 100+ cities around the world

ProductCamp: Free, user-driven “unconference” for Product Managers and marketers (around the world)

MindTheProduct: The conference for passionate product people (in London and SF)

You can always head to Meetup.com to find local product management events near you.

Meeting the right people at a company can help you fast-track your application at a company. It definitely helps to have someone on the inside who can vouch for you.

Put yourself on the market

Check in with HR:

If you like where you work and want to move into a Product Manager role, let the hiring manager know! It’s likely that you already have a good deal of product knowledge if you’ve been at your company for awhile, and that will definitely work in your favor.

Sign up for job boards

There are also a handful of places where you can find companies hiring Product Managers. Check out the following job boards:

Mind the Product Jobs

PMHQ Jobs

LinkedIn Jobs

Do your homework: Take advantage of product management resources

Books you should read

Product management is a fast-changing field of expertise, and we are all learning as we go along. There’s a lot of reading available online! Here are a few of our favorite ones:

• Product Leadership by Martin Eriksson, Richard Banfield, and Nate Walkingshaw
• The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen
• The Art of Product Management by Rich Mironov

There’s no shortage of books on product management. You can find a much longer, crowdsourced list of recommended reading for Product Managers here.

Blogs and podcasts you should check out

Oh, where do we start? These are a few of our favorites, but again – there’s no end to this list!

• Silicon Valley Product Group (Marty Cagan)
• Mind the Product
• Ken Norton
• Product Coalition
• Women in PM

You can find an extensive list of product management blogs here, and you can read all about the best product management newsletters here.

You can also try our Resource Center to find our in-house resources on product management, product roadmapping, and more.

Ready to go all in? 

The exciting thing about product management is that there’s no one road to gaining Product Manager experience. There’s no official certification you need to enter this field. There are no barriers to entry – and it’s a role where you can make a real tangible impact at your organization.

The truth is, the best Product Managers are self-taught.

If you’re serious about product management, the best way to prepare is by getting out there, listening, and learning from other people’s product management experiences. Try out our Sandbox environment, a pre-loaded ProdPad setup, where you can see ProdPad in action, at your own pace.

Our product management blog has even more articles on a range of PM topics.

The post How To Become a Product Manager With No Product Management Experience appeared first on ProdPad.