post

Footer About

Footer Contribute

Footer Get Involved

Footer Links

Mind the Product

Guest Post

Creating metrics that matter

A case study: Launching a product process in a project-based company

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

🌎 <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/world-product-day/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">Happy World Product Day!</a> Be sure to celebrate product, yourself, and your peers today! 🎉

How much are product managers getting paid in 2024?

Leading product ops at Delivery Hero with Koen Dubelaar

Connecting fans to creators at Spotify (Dariusz Dziuk, Product Lead, Spotify)

“You’re not as competent as you think” 5 lessons from Ken Chin on navigating a product career (CPO, Spark Networks)

Everything wrong with the product management job market. And how to fix it

Having started out in traditional publishing, Emma is now New Product Development Manager for TSO. Excited by the convergence of backgrounds that make up the product management community, she loves working people out and finding the best way of engaging with them.

EmmaHarris

Editor&#8217;s note: &#8216;Product Manager&#8217; can be an ambiguous term in some companies, like &#8216;UX&#8217; has been in recent times. A big part of what we&#8217;re trying to do at MindTheProduct is help companies understand the Product Manager and to identify this person formally within their teams. Almost always, at least one person is already doing product management internally without really knowing it. This is a guest post from Emma Harris who recently experienced this and the benefits that ensued.
Discovering Product Management
<figure id="attachment_1046" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1046" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/5479113716_667241c673.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="http://mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/5479113716_667241c673.jpg" alt="Product Camp London 2011" title="Product Camp London 2011" width="300" class="size-full wp-image-1046" srcset="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/5479113716_667241c673.jpg 500w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/5479113716_667241c673-300x224.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-1046" class="wp-caption-text">Product Camp London 2011</figcaption></figure>I attended the February 2011 ProductCamp London at the Guardian offices at York Place, London. I work in what is described by many as ‘publishing’, which is very much an industry in transition, from ‘trad’ publishing (books are books) to ‘digital’ (content + product). Product Manager was not a job title I was really aware of but I liked the attitude of the ProductCamp marketing and was curious to see what the day had to offer.
Although I was the only person working in non-magazine publishing (as I have mentioned, they still have one foot in the past), the penny dropped when I realised that everyone in the room – whether employed by a magazine publisher, a film rental company or a gas company – wanted to know how best to get their product to its market. I realised: that’s what I do too!
What did I do after ProductCamp?
I LinkedIn with people, I followed them on Twitter, I Liked their Slideshare presentations.
I shared my learnings with colleagues and managers.
I presented at an ePublishing conference. Seeing those excellent ProductCamp presentations gave me the will to pass on my experience.
I rewrote my job description. By setting out what I did in the context of a product management role I easily persuaded my managers that a Product Manager is what I am, and what they need more of. The job description I wrote is now being replicated across the business.
I got a promotion! Clearly setting out this valuable combination of skills – particularly my customer insight, technical understanding and strategic oversight – convinced the business that I was working at a higher level than they had believed.
And now… I have a new job! The confidence that I gained from realising that I am part of this community of intelligent, imaginative, courageous and truly practical people, and the focus that has given me has enabled me to land a great new job.
In less than a year I have turned my career around and now have a clear direction to continue progressing. I will of course be coming along to ProductTank events, but am taking this opportunity to reiterate my request for another ProductCamp London ASAP. I want to bring my energy, excitement and enthusiasm to share with fellow ProductCampers – and maybe also to help someone else to find their next step.
Got a story like this? Help us publish the rise of the Product Manager, email sam@mindtheproduct.com

core/freeform

Building Consumer-Grade Experiences for the Enterprise By Ciara Peter

What Makes a Great Product Manager by Graham Siener

The GIST Framework by Itamar Gilad

Scaling the Product and the Team by Rachael Shah

Decisions, Debt, and Other Dilemmas by Janna Bastow

Hacking Your Product Career by Gibson Biddle

How Medicine and Research Translates to Patients by Shree Patel

The Future of Product Management by Richard Harrison

Data Science and Digital Businesses by Ali Gulez

You Need A Product Strategy by Sam Odio

Guest Post: Knowing You Are A Product Manager Makes All The Difference

ProductTank Hyderabad

ProductTank Hong Kong

ProductTank Montréal

ProductTank Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh

ProductTank Chicago

ProductTank Jacksonville

ProductTank Charlotte

ProductTank Pittsburgh

ProductTank Bangkok

ProductTank Cardiff

ProductTank Exeter

ProductTank Seattle

ProductTank Köln

ProductTank Leeds

ProductTank Raleigh

ProductTank Norwich

ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Newcastle Upon Tyne

ProductTank München

ProductTank Hamburg

ProductTank Düsseldorf

ProductTank Warsaw

ProductTank Tokyo

Guest Post: Knowing You Are A Product Manager Makes All The Difference

EmmaHarris

Read more

Comments