Get into Product Management

When getting into product management, one of the most important things to remember is that getting into product management is a lot like the process of growing a Chinese bamboo tree. All the effort that you make now will be paid in the future.

For four years of growing a bamboo tree, one might see nothing and yet the fifth year, the tree grows 80 feet in six weeks. For the first four years, the tree was spreading its roots. It was getting prepared to emerge and have massive growth.

As a product manager, what kinds of things can you do to spread your roots for the future?

• Don’t wait to be a product manager to start acting like one: help your product manager and talk to customers.
• Prepare for interviews, and attend informational interviews and networking events.
• Continue to improve your communication skills, especially positioning and storytelling

At first you might have to keep changing your methods and trying new things, but always stay the course. Seek out guidance and mentors. Never assume that you need to fulfill all the listed requirements for a job. Try and keep trying until the roots you build yield a Product Manager opportunity.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hey, everyone. This message is for the people who are looking to get into product management. I want to tell you about the Chinese bamboo tree.

The Chinese bamboo tree. What happens is when you plant it and you put the seeds in the ground and for the first year nothing happens. And then again, for the second year, nothing happens. Hey James, for the third year, nothing. And for the fourth year, again, nothing at all. So you're wondering what the hell. I've planted this tree, four years ago and I see nothing. Is all my effort worth anything at all or not? And then the fifth year, the tree emerges and it grows 80 feet in six weeks, 80 feet in six weeks. Now, would you say those first four years were a com plete waste? That nothing happened in those four years because you didn't see visible results? Not true, right? The tree was spreading its roots. It was getting prepared to emerge and have massive growth.

Now for all of you looking to get into product management, which I know there's a lot of people in the group who are looking to do that. This process is a lot like the Chinese bamboo tree. And so what I want you to remember is all your efforts right now will be paid in the future. But the way you have to look at it is that you're building muscle right now so that not only would you get into product management, but you become an excellent product manager. So what are the kinds of things you can be doing?

So, number one, if you already work in a tech company, don't wait to become a product manager to start acting like a product manager. Don't assume you need to have the title to do the job. Go to your product manager, help them in any way you can. Suggest features, suggest... Take things off their plate that they don't want to do. Go and talk to customers. I mean, when I work with developers, I love when they do all of that. Because then your product manager is always, always, always super busy. They're just completely occupied. So anything you do right now that helps them, they appreciate it. They become your advocates and that might start to create opportunities for you.

But more importantly, you're building the things that you want to put on your resume, that you want to talk about in your interviews. Things you've done that are related to product management that are part of what a product manager does even if you don't have the title. So that's number one.

Second, interview preparation and informational interviews and networking. I mean, you're building mentors right now, as you're going out, you're seeking, you're trying to understand what product managers do. You're preparing for product management interviews and thereby learning to think like a product manager even if you don't crack that position right now, you're learning. You're on your way to getting that position and landing that great opportunity.

And then last but not least when you're going and doing those interviews, right, or you're preparing your resume, you're building a very, very essential product management skill, that of storytelling, of positioning, of communication. And even if you have to spend a lot of time on this process, that just means that you have built this muscle and you're coming out stronger on the other side. That you're coming out, not just somebody who happens to have landed in product management, but somebody who's actually already done the job so you're way ahead of your peers who are just graduating from a program and somehow their profile was right and they got into product management.

Because I can tell you the first year as a product manager, it took me by surprise. It takes a lot of people by surprise. They finally get the position and then they suck in the first year. Because they haven't done all these things before and it's a waste. So you are not... Even if you spent an extra, you're getting into the role, you're leapfrogging others already.

And I want you to know that everything you're doing today, it's going to pay off in the future. You might... The first things might not work. You might need to keep changing your methods. You might need to keep trying different things, but stay the course, stay the course. Your results will pay off, seek out guidance, seek out mentors. You have this group. There's so many groups, so many people willing to talk to you. It's not a straightforward path in this career. I know because often product managers, they are... We all want product management experience. In fact, every position you read, it says 4 plus years of product management experience. I've seen positions that say 15 plus years of product management experience. And oh, by the way, they're hiring for a senior PM role. It's not even a director or VP role. It's just one level above a starter PM.

And they write it because it's a wishlist. Don't believe the job description. Never, never, never assume that you need to check off all the boxes in the job description. In fact, I would say it's only 1% of the time that those jobs, they actually get a candidate that fulfills even 50% of the requirements. Same thing for domain knowledge, don't believe that. Don't believe you have to have experience building cloud technology for three years. Now, does that mean that if it's a cloud product management role and there is a rival who has that experience, would that weigh in his or her favor? Of course it will. But do you have the other elements that is going to help you crack that position?

And last but not least, I will just say one more thing, which is, don't be hesitant to take a role that puts you in the right position to make product management as your next career move. And that next career move is... Could be something like customer success or product marketing or sales engineering. Something that's customer focused or even engineering where you spend a lot of time with customers. That makes for an excellent lateral movement and you're already building up the skills.

So once again, I want to encourage you, your efforts. It takes time to pay off, but when it pays off, it pays off big. And if you are spending more time in getting prepared and getting ready for that product management role, it just means that when you get into that job, you will be so much well-prepared.

So last thing I want to ask is... I am considering doing a [inaudible 00:07:56] program. Something where I'll work with a few selected PMs for a very low fee on a project where they get product management experience without actually having that job. That's my goal is to build a way for PM's to do that. So if you watch this entire video and it's something of interest to you, send me a private message. I also want to filter out people and it's only people who are watching the video until the end will know this.

So send it out. I'm looking for maybe three or four people to try this out with. And if it works, hopefully it will. I can guarantee you it will be a good investment for your time. You will learn a lot. If it works and we're able to convert it into real experience for you, that you can leverage in your resume and other things, that'd be my ultimate goal but it is a [inaudible 00:08:51] program.

So if you're interested, just send me a private message on Facebook, I'll check and make sure I'm looking at all messages. And that's all I got. Just stick to your dreams, think of the Chinese bamboo tree always. That's how you grow. That's how you become an awesome PM. And I look forward to seeing all of you all very, very soon. Take care.