As Product Managers, we spend a lot of time working with other groups—Prospects, Customers, Sales, Support, Engineering, Marketing, etc–to get our products up and running and out the door. Managing that diverse universe of contacts is an integral and frequently taxing function of the Product Manager’s role. But there is another group that many Product Managers that I know neglect to include in their universe of contacts: other Product Managers.
One of the best things you can do to be a better Product Manager (and improve your product is to interact with other Product Managers. At a big company, this is not a huge challenge, since there are likely to be many Product Managers and possibly many Product Management teams with which you can interact. At smaller companies where there is only one or a few Product Managers, you need to reach out to the Product Management community.
There are a number of ways to initiate contact:
- Find a local/regional/national Product Management Association (PMA)
If you live/work in a big city with a strong technology field, there is probably already a local PMA active in you area. If not, you many need to look regionally or at a larger national group. PMA’s are great because they are laser-focused on the needs of Product Managers. Depending on the size and resources of the PMA, they may anything from ad-hoc get-togethers to scheduled meetings for networking and/or speakers/round-table discussions. Some even offer training/certification based on study and testing (usually available for a fee). I personally have been involved with the Silicon Valley PMA (SVPMA) as a board member, and have had a wonderful experience both organizing and participating in their events. The AIPMM is another organization that can be useful for both networking and education, but they are more of a national organization while PMA’s tend to be more localized. Disclosure: This blog has received financial support for operations from the AIPMM. - Go to industry events
Next time your company has a booth at an industry trade show, review the speaker list for Product-oriented sessions, and if there are any, ask if you can get a session pass. That way you can go listen (or participate) in the session. If you enjoyed the session or the speaker, at the conclusion of the session, introduce yourself to the speaker (nothing high pressure, just a complement and/or comment on something they said) and ask for a business card. Wait about a week and then send them a short email re-introducing yourself and asking if they would be interested in discussing their original session topic (or other relevant topic). ALWAYS ask. While Product Managers are generally a friendly bunch who enjoy talking about their products, experience and themselves, don’t assume that the person has the time or desire to enter into such a relationship. If they say yes, great. If they say no, thank them for their time and leave it at that. You can try again with another person. - Go to non-industry events
Using the same techniques described above (or whatever variant works best for you) find someone outside your field of interest. It’s easy for Product Managers to get stuck talking to people who think just like themselves or who approach problems in a similar way. Try to connect with someone who’s product or industry is dissimilar to yours (e.g., software and automotive; entertainment and business intelligence; aerospace and CPG). You may find that another perspective provides you the insight you need to get past a trouble spot in your product or process. - Find a Special Interest Group (SIG)
Whether centered around Product Management, marketing or your industry, search for a SIG that tackles issues that are relevant to you. You will find that there are other Product Managers there who have either resolved issues that you have or are trying to solve similar challenges. Connect with them to grow your professional and idea network. In Silicon Valley and even more broadly the San Francisco Bay Area, there are many SIGs to choose from. I have participated in events put on by the Software Development Forum (SDF) who has SIGs focused on Marketing, entrepreneurship, usability and more. There are also many interactive and marketing SIGs that offer great opportunities, too. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) also has sessions and resources that some Product Managers (especially those with technology or software products) will find interesting, but it is not exclusively PM-focused. - Go to Product Management training
One of the worst mistakes that you can make being a Product Manager is that once you’ve done it, you know how to do it. If you are like me (and who doesn’t aspire to be like me?) then you probably fell into Product Management through trying out other roles and finding that Product Management had the right mix of all the things you liked about other functional roles. But there’s more to being a Product Manager than just mastering the cross-functional aspect. Experience plays a big role, but so does formal training and a good place to find good Product Managers who want to be great Product Managers is at Product Management training. There are several key players out there—Pragmatic Marketing, Silicon Valley Product Group, 280Group, Zigzag Marketing, Sequent Learning and more. I have personally been to the Pragmatic sessions and used Product Management materials from the 280Group, but the others come highly recommended, too. Whichever one you choose to attend, pay attention to both the instructor and your fellow classmates. Who is asking interesting questions? What are the interesting case studies? Pick out the ones that stand out in your mind and make sure that you connect with them during the training (there is usually a group lunch where folks can socialize and break time might provide an opportunity to exchange contact info for future dialogue or a meetup. - Search the Blogosphere
As I mentioned earlier, Product Managers typically enjoy sharing their experiences with others. To that point, there are several blogs out there that discuss Product Management issues, challenges, processes, and tools (see my blogroll for a list of some of my favorites). The Product Managers who either blog or regularly comment on blogs are the ones who want to talk about PMGT. Join in the discussion. Post a question or comment on an existing debate. Read old posts and comments. Find out who the repeat (or at least interesting) participants are and send them an email or post a comment. You may want to wait until after you have established yourself as a contributor before you start pinging folks (it’s a two-way street). As with options 2 and 3 above, you have to be tactful and respect that sometimes the person may not want or be able to engage with you, but you’ll never know unless you ask.
I would recommend picking one or two of these and see how they go for several months. Trying too many of them at once will be difficult to manage and you won’t really get a sense of which ones work. Besides, these types of relationships take time to develop, so don’t expect immediate results, but on the flip side, don’t give up after one or two setbacks. Persistence is the key.
And if that doesn’t work, you can always try to send me a note [ivan<at>theproductologist//dot<com>]. I’ve been known to talk about Product Management a bit.