how to start and sustain a successful career in product management by gal josefsberg

How To Start And Maintain A Successful PM CareerGAL JOSEFSBERG

A Bit About Me•Undergrad in MIS and Finance from Bryant University (RI)

•MBA from UC Berkeley

•MBA from Columbia U.

•Part time blogger

•Joined Blue Pumpkin as SE (employee 6)• Annoyed my way into a PM job• Stayed for 7 years

•Model N for 5 years• First director level position

•Baynote for 3 years• First leadership position

•Tealeaf (IBM) for 1 year• First big company

•Currently at SocialChorus as VP Products

The Product CEOWHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT?

What Value Do You Add? Your job is to provide a winning product which has:

•No Deal Killers

•Competitive Advantage

•No Systemic Issues

•A Detailed and Accurate Roadmap That Provides Information For Decision Making

•Sales Material

•Marketing Material

•Training and Enablement

Product Management – A Definition

The CEO of the productResearch

Ideate

Recruit

DefineManage

Launch

Sell

Research•Customers – What will increase the price of your product?

•Marketing – What will sell more product in the future?

•Sales – What will sell more product now?

•Engineering – What will save money in the future?

•Tech Support / Services – What will save money right now?

•Management – What will support the goals of the company?

•Market – What will keep you from becoming obsolete?

Ideate•What’s the problem?

•What’s the solution?

•What’s the value of the solution?

•Who would pay for the solution?

Recruit•How many resources will you need?

•What will be the return on investment?

•What are other opportunities to invest in?

•How long will this take?

•Any specific resources?

•What are the risks?

•How will you address the risks?

Define•What is the deliverable?

•What will it deliver?

•How will it function?

•What won’t it do? (This is important!)

•When will it be delivered?

•What’s the tradeoff?

•Any risks to the plan?

Manage•Unblock any issues

•Refine requirements

•Adjust to problems

•Communicate changing delivery dates

Launch•Pricing

•Services

•Sales enablement

•Marketing enablement

•Services enablement

Sell•Get out there!

•Talk to customers

•Talk to the market

•Talk to the people who didn’t buy your product

•EVANGELIZE!

•Which leads right back to….Research….

Product Management – A Definition

The CEO of the productResearch

Ideate

Recruit

DefineManage

Launch

Sell

Communicate

The Good Old DaysBack In My Day…

•This whole cycle used to take years

•Clearly defined stages

You Kids Have It Hard…

•1 month or less, sometimes continuous

•All stages mixed together

The Modern Renaissance Man or WomanWHO IS A PRODUCT MANAGER?

Who Is A Product Manager?

Engineer Business Person Communicator

Engineer•You need to understand the product

•You do NOT need a CS degree

•You need to understand code

•You do NOT need to write code

•Exception – Really technical products like big data or infrastructure

Business Person•You need to understand how the product sells

•You do NOT need to sell the product

•You need to understand how to support sales

•You need to understand the competition

•You need to understand pricing

•You do NOT need an MBA

•Exception – Big enterprise software where you are part of the sales team

•Exception – Big companies with official management tracks

Communicator•Inbound• ENG• Services

•Outbound• Sales• Marketing• Customers• Analysts

•Exception – Big consumer companies where you are a glorified project manager

Start HereWHERE DO I SIGN UP?

Get Domain Expertise•Start within your own company

•Start with your vendors

•Get domain knowledge on your own

Prove Your Skills•Technical skills• CS degree• Github account• Link to your latest app

•Business skills• Side projects• MBA• Old start ups

•Communication• Toastmasters• Clubs• Hobbies

Network•Start on LinkedIn, everyone likes to feel wise

•Keep asking questions• Rule of 27

•Shadow people

•Get an internship

•Start on the services side with a commitment to transfer to product

Keep GoingWHAT NOW?

Keep Current•Your expertise is your career, so keep it up to date

•Read up

•Go to conferences

•Speak at conferences

•Take classes

•Expand your skill set

Choose Your Path Wisely•Again, it’s all about domain expertise

•Once you start down a path as a PM, it’s hard to change• B2C or B2B?• Large or small?• Technical or non technical?• Social?• Mobile?• eCommerce?

Want to take the next step to becoming a Product Manager?

Check out GA’s 10 week Product Management course that begins 9/3

email patrick@ga.co with questions

and check out our info session next week, Tuesday 8/27 @ 6:30pm