Everybody Wants To Be A Product Manager
But not everybody wants to do the work needed to be one
I’m seeing a lot of people around me trying to get into product management. I mean, why wouldn’t you? As a PM, you own the product. End to end. You are the glue that keeps the team together. You get to manage various teams and ship the right product at the right time. You get to work with the smartest people and brainstorm over problems, solutions, feasibility and desirable/undesirable outcomes. Heck, you’re a fucking mini-CEO, who wouldn’t want to be that?
So yes, I understand the charm and allure of the position. I get it, I truly do. But what I don’t understand is how people think they can become PMs overnight. Perhaps it’s the nature of the job that leads them on. Or perhaps the buzz associated with it. Maybe both.
“Oh, I just have to coordinate with Design, Marketing and Engineering to deliver a memorable user experience? Sounds simple”
“So I need to talk to users and extract rich product insights from customer feedback? Ain’t no thang!”
“You mean I have to write PRDs and maintain a product roadmap? Easy peasy”
Except it’s not. Doing all of the above takes time and effort. I’ve always maintained that you need to be proficient in at least one aspect of managing products — Marketing, Design, Tech, Sales, Customer Support — in order to be a good PM. Jacks of all trades are masters of none and more often than not, end up sucking at product management. They just don’t have the perspective or domain expertise to nail any one aspect of the product.
Why is that important, you ask.
If an experienced designer takes charge of the product, you can be sure that the product will at least look and feel good. If a hotshot Marketer/Sales guy heads Product, you can rest assured that the value props will be communicated effectively, among other things. Similarly, if an ex-Customer Success guy is at the helm, you can expect the support to be top-class. I’m not saying other aspects of the product get neglected by a Master of One, I’m just saying that the core competency of the PM inadvertently shines through in the product.
So I get dumbfounded when I see people who have founded/co-founded/been part of a startup, apply for PM. Sometimes, even people who hardly have 1–2 years worth of experience in one vertical try to join the bandwagon. Beginning your career at a startup is of great value, it gives you double the experience in half the time. But in a startup, you don multiple hats and rarely get the time to become a master in any one skillset, which is critical if you want to be a good PM. You have to put in the work and you can’t put in the work without putting in some years of your time.
You can’t be a good PM by reading books and product management stories on Medium. As I said before, there are no shortcuts. But if you are looking for some inspiration, Ben Horowitz’s essay is as good a starting point as any. Highly recommend it.
P.S: If you like that, go and read Ben’s The Hard Thing about Hard Things. It’s illuminating to say the least.
If you have a different opinion, I’d love to hear about it. If you don’t, just hit the 💜. I love it when people agree with me.
