Test-n-Tell.com - making product decisions

  Oh, project managers, how often are we mixed up? We even share the shortcut - PM. When a few years ago many project managers jumped on the Agile bandwagon to become coaches, scrum masters and delivery managers - I thought it will help to solve the confusion. No luck, people still often use project and product manager terms interchangeably. 

  That was one of the most important learnings for me from the recent and critically acclaimed business book " No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention " by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer. It describes how Netflix created a truly bottom-up decision making culture, what it means for their business and how it contributes to their enormous success. 

  The transition from the business analyst role to a PM is probably the easiest and the most natural. We share the majority of skills and often work hand in hand to make our businesses successful. However, BA roles, similarly to PM roles, could differ significantly depending on the company. Some BAs I know are more technical, others work closely with Sales to close deals. Your background as a BA would influence the transition to a PM role. 

  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.