The Rise of Product Coaching
Why our industry needs Product Coaches
Something I’ve observed over the last couple of years has been the rise in product coaching, also referred to as Product Management Consulting or Product Leadership Coaching, among others.
I’ve seen more consulting companies like Silicon Valley Product Group be created, and more traditional IT consulting companies pivot to hire experienced design and product people.
I’ve also witnessed several agile consultancies starting to adopt more product discovery work and seek out, what I would call, more product orientated Agile Coaches, those with a product management background over a project or IT development one.
For example, just look at this recent job ad from PwC here in Sydney.
For some, it’s a deliberate move. For others it’s a response to client needs.
As one Head of Product I spoke with recently said, “I’ve been hired by [Consultancy X] to build out a Product Management team because we have clients asking; “we have this idea, are you able to help validate it for us?”…”
The more fascinating shift to me has been on the client/demand side.
Large organisations, once fixated on so-called agile transformations, are now asking questions beyond delivery. They’ve started to ask about design thinking, product strategy, etc. and how to identify the right idea to ship, not just ship it quickly.
This is a monumental shift.
A growing profession
A study done by Neal Ilyer found that the number of Product Management roles in the US grew by an astounding 32% between August 2017 to June 2019.
In 2019, LinkedIn reported similar results. Ranking Product Management as one of the most promising jobs of the year, with a 29% growth in job listings that year.
One part of this is fuelled by already product-led organisations growing rapidly however, another dimension is the shift in traditional organisations now looking to build a product practice.
Us product people have all at some stage had to fight to justify our existence — either the organisation didn’t understand or value good product practices, or they weren’t empowering their people to build great products.
But ‘times-are-changin’. We’re seeing more companies shift away from that old project mindset to a more product-oriented one.
As a result, companies are no longer seeking out better ways to build their ideas; they’re questioning their validity in the first place.
This becomes a fundamental shift away from the ‘build it and they will come’ mindset towards an outcome-orientated one.
Many more traditional companies have finally come to realised the benefits of customer-centricity, design thinking and discovery.
As such, the many agencies who sell the “we’ll build it for you” services have had to pivot to remain relevant.
No longer are their clients looking to boost their delivery capacity to execute their ideas/requirements Rather, they are seeking help to validate them, understand their customers, and uncover opportunities.
This has created a new market for skilled product professionals to help companies make this shift.
But, Why Coaching?
I believe our current approach to training and upskilling is suboptimal.
One of the things I learned in the army was the concept of Proficiency vs Competency.
Competency is teaching you the tools, however, proficiency is mastering them.
The Association of Product Professionals refers to a similar notion using the terms, Capability vs Influence.
Regardless of what you call it, mastering a skill is non-linear — it’s not one-dimensional.
This is why those agile, Scrum and other ‘2-day training courses and get a certification’ don’t work and subsequently get a bad rep.
Going off and doing a two-day course is great to get a base understanding, but you’re often left with new knowledge but very little guidance on how to apply it in your context.
Typical classroom teaching/training courses are what is referred to as a single loop learning environment. Meaning that we are handed theoretical knowledge only.
This is where coaching comes in.
Coaching goes beyond classroom knowledge. Through regular touchpoints a coach can guide, support, give feedback and advice to help you apply that knowledge and navigate your unique context.
This moves the learning from a single learning loop to a double loop.
Don’t get me wrong, classroom teaching/training has its place.
In fact, it’s a stance I often take in my day job as a Product Coach. However, it’s best used at the beginning of the learning curve to get you capable. It won’t, however, help you be more proficient or influential.
But isn’t the Product Leader's job to coach their people?
There are a few reasons why product leaders and companies turn to third parties for help.
a) they don’t have the bandwidth themselves; or
b) they lack the skills or knowledge to do it effectively.
In my experience, the former is often the case for high growth startups. Moving rapidly it can be hard for product leaders to coach and grow their people whilst also leading the company through such grow.
I’m often engaged by product leaders in this space.
Moving at lightspeed, the product leaders I have worked with find themselves spread thinly. Acknowledging this, they seek to delegate to a third party like myself.
The later on the other hand, in my experience, based on the data from my own clients, are often larger companies.
More established, they are often more traditional organisations looking to transition from a traditional project-mindset to a product-centric one. This nature of work is often referred to as product-led transformations.
Internal Product Coaches
There is however an option c) that is still in its infancy, in my opinion, but on the rise — and that’s looking to go from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
The desire to continuously improve and ensure your team is operating as efficiently as possible has led few product leaders to opt for a dedicated Product Coach.
I think this is a fantastic step. As Bill Gates said, “everyone needs a coach”.
And a true testimony to how much of a difference a solid product coach can make. To find enough value to have a coach as a permeant full-time role to help your team operate more effectively, I think is amazing.
Different kinds of Product Coaches
I’ve observed a few different flavours of Product Coaching and expect to see more as product coaching develops.
Some of the different types of Product Coaches I’ve encounted are:
Product Consultants
More consultants than coaches. Product Consultants play a hands-on role in recommending and implementing product processes, frameworks, tools, etc.
Interim Product Manager
Some consultants only play interim product roles. Either as an interim PM or Product leader, these consultants generally work closely with scaling organisations, filling an immediate need whilst the company goes to market for a permanent hire.
Product Coach
Unlike consultants, coaches generally do not play a direct hands-on role. Instead, they work in tangent with the Product Team and Product Leader(s) to coach, guide, mentor and support them toward high performance. Since coaching is less hands-on, it’s focused on “teaching you how to fish” rather than “fishing for you”.
Transformation (Product) Coach
Then there are Product Coaches who specialise in transformation efforts. They are masters at organisation change and enjoy helping more traditional companies transform to be product-led. A coach can help guide your transformation and help you stay on the right path. However, they cannot walk the path for you.
Product Trainer
Finally, they are Product Trainers. Product coaches specialise in training and typically run their own training business and are often accredited to provide certifications. Some also provide coaching or consulting as well, others specialise in training only and partner with Product Coaches to help their clients take their learnings further.
Conclusion
Product Management will continue to grow as a profession.
As more organisations see the value in and adopt product practices the demand for seasoned product leaders to help coach, mentor and guide them will increase.
I believe so deeply in this hypothesis that I bet my own career on it. About three years ago I made the leap to go out on my own and do Product Coaching.
Even Marty Cagan and SVPG believe the need for Product Coaches is growing. A need greater than SVPG alone can fulfil.
As such, they have decided to run a ‘coach the coaches’ program to help support product coaches globally.
“[…]But there’s little doubt in my mind that we are losing that battle, especially globally. The global rise of SAFe is proof enough.
Another harsh fact is that we realize we have no chance of doing this alone.
SVPG is just a few partners, and while we know this is a good problem to have, we have very limited supply compared to the demand, which means that for the majority of companies that reach out to us, we can’t help in any reasonable amount of time[…]
So in order to try to reach and help more people and more companies, we want to try something very different[…]
On May 24–26, in London, SVPG will be hosting an intensive, immersive, 3-day session, open to product and discovery coaches and trainers…” — Marty Cagan, SVPG ‘Coaching the Coaches’
Finally, I expect to see a rise in internal product coaches too. More product-led companies not settling for ‘good’ but striving for ‘great’ and seeking out dedicated coaching to help them continually improve.
