Category Archives: Organizations

Organizations, people, and how companies work

What’s A Vice President of Product Management?

Posted on by
1

consigliereMy last two posts were about getting into product management and the climb to Director. This third post asks how Vice Presidents of Product Management (VP PMs) are different from Directors, why they are so rare, and where else Directors can look for organizational advancement.

Product groups vary widely and are not rationally designed. (Sorry.) So let’s imagine a pure VP PM position generalized from my own tours of duty plus a half-dozen interim/acting VP PM roles.  Your organizational mileage may vary. Continue reading →

Dublin’s Software Pioneers

Posted on by
Reply

Dublin Institute of TechnologyI had a chance to spend a week with some of Dublin’s software thought leaders, including two days teaching in a Postgraduate Diploma Program in Product Management offered by the Dublin Institute of Technology and Software Skillnet. In addition, the Irish Software Association generously hosted a workshop and lecture, where we talked about technology management, agile, and building commercially successful products. Continue reading →

Moving Up To Director

Posted on by
5

director's chairIn the second of three posts about the product management hierarchy, we’ll focus on technology product managers (PMs) who’ve been in their jobs long enough to consider what comes next.  (User story: “As a Senior Product Manager, I want to be promoted to Director so that I get more money and respect and glory.”)

Let’s break this problem into a few parts: likely candidates for promotion; how the Director job differs from line Product Management; and ways to show that you’re ready for a bigger role. Continue reading →

Getting Your First Product Management Job

Posted on by
6

knocking on the doorLooking over dozens of discussions, presentations and Quora threads from the last few months, a frequent question has been “How do I get a job in technical product management?”  Here is the first of three posts split along job levels:

  1. How do I move into tech product management, especially if I’m currently a developer?
  2. How do I move up from an individual PM role to Director? 
  3. I’m a Director of Product Management, and want to be a VP. 

Continue reading →

Webcast with John Peltier

Posted on by
Reply

John Peltier is a seasoned product manager out of Atlanta, and does a periodic  John Peltierwebcast with guest product folks posted on his Product Owner Vision blog.  He generously included me in an interview posted on12 December.  We recorded a half hour discussion covering:

  • How Product Camps can increase awareness among senior and executive level product management
  • How product managers can help engineering organizations to understand what product managers do outside of engineering to help ensure the success of a product
  • Options for a product manager to advance in the field

Listen to the entire session here.

How Engineering Can Work Better with Product Management

Posted on by

SDForumAs a break from stealth start-up work, I led a discussion for SDForum’s Engineering Leadership SIG on “How Engineering Can Work Better with Product Management.”  This was a VERY spirited discussion…
We gathered some (good and bad) experiences from attendees about their interactions with product management, tried to define what the PM role is, and shared some thoughts on how to cooperate better for great products and organizations. Lots of questions about how to get into product management, and why people would stay in such a role! Continue reading →

‘Getting Promoted’ Talk at SV ProdCamp

Posted on by
Reply

svpcampThis year’s Silicon Valley Product Camp (the fourth!) drew the largest crowd ever of product managers and product marketers to share, network, learn and have fun! Estimated at almost 600 and hosted at eBay’s Paypal/San Jose location, it pulled attendees from around the continent for nearly 40 sessions.  It also included a job fair with a dozen local companies.  I was honored to be emcee and event coordinator emeritus, having passed PCamp management to new leadership.

I ran a session on Understanding the Next Job Up and Getting Promoted…

Continue reading →

Social Entrepreneurship

Posted on by
Reply

I got an early look at allthis – a community of people using their talents, skills, and social connections to support their favorite causes. Hope that you’ll visit as well, and participate if the spirit moves you.allthis

In brief, allthis lets people post offers (services, goods, special items) that they’ll provide in return for charitable donations. You do what you’re good at (or what you hope others will appreciate), and 100% of the money goes directly to the cause of your choosing. Continue reading →

Skills You Need to Succeed as a PM (SVPMA Panel)

Posted on by

SVPMA marked its 10-year anniversary with a panel discussion on the key role that product managers play in today’s organizations and the skills PMs need to succeed in the next decade.  120+ attended.

What: “Skills You Need to Succeed as a Product Manager in the Next Decade”
Panel: Rich Mironov (moderator), Tom Grant, Greg Cohen, Christina Noren, Ivan Chalif
When: Wednesday, December 1st, 6:30pm – 9pm
Where: TechMart, Santa Clara

This turned into a spirited discussion among the panelists and assembled PMs/PMMs with questions on their minds.  SVPMA Continue reading →

Leadership, Trust and Pronouns

Posted on by
1

I’m struck by the words people choose, and by how their pronouns reflect their management style. In particular, I’m working with a team that’s been hungry for leadership and trust – and is now blossoming. This provides me with an excuse to recap what we all (should) know about leadership, trust, and how the words we use shape the behavior of our organizations.

dictionaryA thoughtful choice between “I” and “we” and “you” is a reflection of the workplace emotional temperature: are managers and executives motivating line employees to do their best, or “throwing them under the bus?” Are we rewarding cross-functional cooperation and market impact, or angling for promotion and impressing our peers? Continue reading →