Test-n-Tell.com - making product decisions

  Good news first - a designer is already a PM, a bit. Designers are driven by very much the same forces as PMs - find and solve customers' problems. Unsurprising that many designs are interested in switching to product management to have a greater influence on the overall product lifecycle. This switch, easier than from most other roles , still comes with several challenges, especially when it comes to business aspects of product management. 

  Most PMs I know came to the job from other roles . Engineering is probably the most frequent source of new PMs and it's easy to see why. Engineers are problem solvers which is a major trait of any successful PM. They know the delivery part of building products and a lot of them are frustrated when their beautiful code doesn't bring business results they hoped for. I was there myself, as a QA, a lot of bugs I was finding could have been prevented way before any code was written. I was wondering who took the design or functionality decisions and that led me to a PM. 

  When Marty Cagan writes a new book, product people rush to the stores. Or so they should. Marty's reputation ensures the book will have high quality and insights. That's very much the case for the new book Marty has co-written with Chris Jones called " Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products ". 

  Making my career roadmap I had time to reflect on how I got into product management. It happened almost ten years ago and at the time there was very little information about the role and what one needs to succeed at it. I was super lucky to receive mentorship that helped me to transition from my engineering mindset to a product one. Now I'd like to help future product people who are considering getting into the profession.

  I've heard the term "career planning" very late. No one talked to me about a career in high school, nor later on my education path. I grew up in a poor country with a backwards education system (in 2006, the English theory book I was using was printed in 1968. It was full of "comrades" talking to each other in a way even British TV wouldn't use to mock Eastern Europeans). So I had no clue what I wanted to do, so as all my friends. 

  How do we decide to leave a job? Say it's a particularly bad Monday. You spill a coffee onto yourself, there were no seats on the train, you've been called out for being late, your boss is a jerk and your last evaluation went wrong so you'll not get promoted or get a raise.  - Enough is enough, - you think, - it's time to move on.  And maybe it is the time, but most likely not. It's highly possible you're making an important decision at the worst time. Odds are not in your favour. 

  I've noticed some PM vacancies mention this requirement to a potential candidate: "enjoys dealing with multiple stakeholders". Enjoys? Really? In my ten years of working in product, I've met dozens if not hundred fellow PMs and none of them were enjoying dealing with multiple stakeholders. Most commonly this aspect of product management is the most dreaded.