If You Don’t Know What a Product Manager Is — Don’t Hire Me.
If you really want me to be your product manager, then this is explicitly the kind of product manager I will be in our company.
Being a Product Manager (PM) in a IT (Information Technology) services company may seem complicated. Because Product Managers are invested with lots of responsibilities you might wonder “how can one be a PM if she is not an employee?”.
It is precisely because working in an IT services company exposes us to many different products, contexts and organizations that our advice is all the more relevant. As PMs in a IT services company we are involved in the success of your product without ever losing sight that you have the final cut on everything.
Still, we have a duty to advise what’s best for the product. So if you’re thinking about hiring a PM-as-a-service here are a few pitfalls to avoid in order to reach effectiveness.
I’m not speaking for all Product Managers but here is my list.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you don’t know what Product Management is.
Please don’t hire me if you actually want a project manager or a PO or a facilitator.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you think a PM is just some kind of PO.
We are not. And by the way, I don’t like working with Scrum (from which the term “PO” comes). I generally use product oriented methods such as Shape Up or Kanban, or anything that focuses more on delivering value over time-boxing.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you’re not ready to give me full autonomy.
Don’t hire me as a PM if I can’t shape the product (and the team) as needed.
Don’t hire me as your Product Manager if you are not 100% involved in your product.
You will need to be very present and 100% involved. You have a critical mission and it is to make quick and clear decisions informed by the work I will have done. To make quick, sharp decisions, you will need to be engaged and in-sync.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you intend to put “pressure to ship” on me just to be assured that I will deliver.
I am already (and all the PM I know are too) over committed to my work, to delivering value to customers, and I am already under way too much pressure. Let me do MY work without interfering with YOUR anxiety of meeting impossible deadlines.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you don’t want me to raise alerts and concerns about the product.
My job is not to tell you that everything is OK if it’s not. My job is to tell you what’s not working, what could be better and what to anticipate that could potentially go wrong. Don’t hire me as a PM if you want to stay in wonderland or if you have trouble dealing with difficulties. Don’t hire me as a PM if you are not ready to hear hard truths about the market, the real expectations of customers (hint: they don’t *need* your product), or the difficulties of the teams.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager in the secret hope that I will fix flaws in your organisation.
Fix it first, then hire me.
Very important : don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you have no intention of following my advice.
(that doesn’t mean that you cannot challenge them). I have launched 3 different (successful) companies, I have sold my own products, I have helped 200+ startups launch theirs and I have designed many products for customers. I am experienced, I am demanding, I am expensive, I am picky. Save your money if you intend to not seriously consider my advice.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if uncertainty makes you really anxious and uncomfortable.
PMs thrive in uncertainty. Don’t expect me to exude certainty, I won’t (probably because I will not be able to). The upside is : doubt is the engine of progress.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if all you’re looking for is an executant to get your impossible retroplanning done.
A good Product Manager should challenge your vision, your decisions, your timing, your roadmap. That’s what we do : challenge things to find the most efficient path from here to product/market fit. The rest is politics (and we don’t do that).
Don’t hire me as Product Manager if there’s no room for maneuver.
If deadlines, budget and scope are fixed, then there’s not much I can do about adversity when it comes.And you are probably in a very uncomfortable position, which will eventually add to the complexity of making the product.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if I don’t have access to everyone I need access to.
I’ll need to speak and work with stakeholders, customers, experts, researchers, customer support and senior management. If you are going to tell me who I am allowed to talk to and who I am not, don’t hire me.
Don’t hire me if, for some reason, I cannot work on the Business Model of the product.
The business model is as part of the product as its technical stack, its interface, its go-to market strategy or branding, and I will have to work on that too. If you don’t want a PM to work on the BM, you probably just need a PO.
Don’t hire me as a PM if you intend to micro manage me and decide how my time should be spent.
There are so many things that you might not find productive but are mandatory for me to do my job well : spend time with the team, curate a tech & business watch, talk to people to capture weak signals, read documentation, test tools, sketch, diagram, prototype, etc.
Don’t hire me to make User Research just to reassure you or your top management or sponsors.
Don’t ask to alter the insights and finding of User Research because it does not corroborate your hypotheses. I will find what I will find and I will not adapt my conclusions just to please sponsors.
Don’t hire me as a Product Manager if you’re not ready to give me credit for the difficult job I’m about to do.
I will strategise, explore, analyse, prioritise, maximise, align, orchestrate, design, deliver and say no in your name. I expect you to give me some credit for that.
Do hire me if…
Please do hire me if you intend to fully entrust me with the product, cooperate hand in hand with me and if you want to work with a passionate and committed Product Manager.
A good way to start is with an explicit “what we expect from a PM in our company” list or a “your responsibilities versus our responsibilities” chart.
