PM’ing your own career
Refocus. Reduce. Iterate.
I recently shared I have taken on a new role at Pendo focusing on Strategy after years of heading up Product Operations. In those years, I assumed the role formally, helping to lay the foundation and frameworks for the company, while building a kick ass team. I ended up in the fortunate position to help customers and the Product Community at large understand, grow, and mature the role. I say that I assumed the role formally because like so many people in Product, I’ve been doing Product Ops for years, while also PM’ing, or leading teams and people. I just didn’t call it Product Ops in those other seats. We all know this role is inherently in those who have the heart of a PM.
Is a change in jobs earth shattering, or new? No. Barely no one has a linear path to wherever they landed in their career. Some refer to it as the career jungle gym, and others just call it change.
The choice wasn’t easy, but it is the right one for many reasons. In a moment of deep thought I realized this change I was about to make was basically an iteration on my journey. And as corny as it sounds, I was (and am) pretty much PM’ing my path.
Here are some takeaways from the last few weeks:
With respect to roles in both operations or leadership, the best thing you can do is to stand up something valuable that will continue to run and be successful when you choose to move on to delivering new value. In these seats you need to be comfortable with working yourself out of a job. You make the thing or the team useful and valuable, you measure success, you iterate until it’s mature and well-oiled, and you move on. Kind of like a product, right?
But you’re not done. Meaning, YOU are not done solving new problems that will likely challenge you in ways you’ve not been challenged before. Like product, in your new job you will need to engage with new ‘customers’ and ‘stakeholders’, build trust, and incrementally prove value. You’ll need to experiment and you will fail. Hopefully you’ll fail fast, and learn a lot so you can improve in different ways.
As you embark on your new journey, you will probably encounter a little bit (or maybe a lot) of imposter syndrome. I saw an instagram meme once that said something like ‘If you’re waiting to apply for the role you’re 100% qualified for, you’re overqualified’. (If anyone knows who wrote that, tell them they’re my hero because that perspective changed things for me for the better.) There are countless articles out there about PMs and imposter syndrome. We need to just be ok with not knowing it all, and lean on our partners all around. (I feel like this part could be an entire post.) Moving outside your comfort zone is scary, but staying in it is limiting. We don’t build better products by focusing only on areas where things are smooth and stable. It’s the same in life.
In moments of change, refocus. I learned in product it’s really easy to get pulled into many directions, which is why I feel passionate about product ops and continuing to help this community as it matures. In product ops, we tend to be looked at as a catch-all, unless we set our boundaries early and gain buy-in and alignment from the top. Focusing on the most important things for you and for your company will yield better results than playing the helper card every time.
On that last point, I highly recommend reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It’s relevant today for many reasons - the never-ending stream of communication in a more connected world, the need for speed in a highly competitive tech environment, the amount of asks coming from leadership while operating with limited resources - you name it.
Here’s a quick share of some of my favorite lines from the book (in the authors words). These center around focusing your energy and time wisely, reducing noise, and the value of incremental delivery :
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
“The faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.”
“Instead of trying to accomplish it all — and all at once — and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.”
There are lots more nuggets that are helpful and I’m sure there are other books out there that may cover a similar topic, but I personally found this book both inspiring and practical at the same time.
I know lots of people right now are going through career shifts in tech, whether voluntary or due to the current state of things. My hope is that we all approach these shifts with as much clarity as we can get, and a product mindset. Most of all, approach them with the intent to never stop building a better version of yourself.