March 5

From Product Person to Product Leader

Are you ready to move from managing products to leading people who manage products? Product leadership comes with new challenges, which can be exciting, and infuriating. Before you decide to start climbing your organization’s ladder, you may want to read what some other product people have to say about moving to product leadership.

Moving up into product leadership. Product managers manage products; product leaders manage teams of product managers. In this video from INDUSTRY Global 2019, Rich Mironov explores what’s different about that next job up and how you can signal your interest and expand your leadership skill set?

(via @RichMironov)

What does it take to reach a product leadership role? “Over the past few years, there’s been plenty of insight (and conjecture) as to what sets product managers apart from product leaders.” It can be tempting to dive into an extensive discussion about good practices for product leadership based on opinion and hearsay. Mike Fishbein decided to go one better and actually look at data gathered from surveying 150 product managers and interviewing over 200 product people on the This is Product Management podcast. In this post, Mike reveals what he found out about moving into product leadership from all of those discussions.

(via @mfishbein)

Transitioning from Managing Products to Managing Product Managers. Are you considering leaping to a leadership role, but not sure what’s involved in managing product managers? It’s a good idea to check some things out ahead of time because product leadership responsibilities and skills are very different from those for product management. Andre Theus takes a look at product leadership and product management roles and how they differ. Understanding these differences can help you steer the right direction in your career. After all, managing product managers can be exciting and rewarding, but it’s not for everyone.

(via @atheus)

Moving into Product leadership. As Head of Product – Candidate at SEEK, Caitlin Blackwell understands how finding a new job can have a profound impact on a person’s life and family. Her own career progression has led her from beginnings as a producer at SEEK in 2012 to taking on a Head of Product role. In this post, Caitlin talks to Leading the Product about her rise through the ranks at SEEK and the challenges she faces as a product leader.

(via @caitblackwell)

Product Leadership: Interview with Director of Product Management at Twitter. Few people get to experience product management at large, successful tech companies and decide to share their expertise and outlook with others who want to get started in the field. One of them is Anna Buldakova, a seasoned product manager. Anna sat down with Scott Eblen, Director of Product Management at Twitter, to skills for Product Managers, the difference between being a PM at a large company vs startup, and transitioning to a director role.

(via @noflamenogame)

Kent J McDonald

About the author

Kent J McDonald writes about and practices software product management. He has product development experience in a variety of industries including financial services, health insurance, nonprofit, and automotive. Kent practices his craft with a variety of product teams and provides just in time resources for product people at KBP.media and Product Collective. When not writing or product managing, Kent is his family’s #ubersherpa, listens to jazz and podcasts (but not necessarily podcasts about jazz), and collects national parks.


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