A couple of weeks ago, I was on a panel discussion with other IIM Kozhikode alumni on Product Management as a career. Here is the video (90 minutes, but the YouTube page description has time-links to specific topics)
Unlike the rest of the panel, I’ve never formally run Product except for a brief period in 2013-14. I’ve always played a GM role who’s also run Product. After years of imposter syndrome, I think I’ve finally come to see this as a positive: that Product’s fallen automatically to me every time even though I was _supposed_ to be operating the overall business.
Finally, almost all of my career has been either in early stage startups or in early-stage skunkworks units within midsized companies. As someone who likes deep focused work, I’ve had to consciously shift to being comfortable with uncertainty, scarce resources and speed. I find that it still causes fatigue and occasional frustration, but having accepted these constraints, I am vastly better at dealing with it now than at the beginning.
End note: when asked to name two books that early Product Managers would find helpful, I suggested
- How The Web Was Won by Paul Andrews, a 1999 book on a few technical and Product people at Microsoft in the early to mid 90s who, unknown to each other, got an entire organization to embrace the open web. Though not about Product Management per se, it’s a remarkably inspirational book about both the building of new products and about initiative.
- Life After Google by George Gilder, a 2018 book on new disruptive areas of technology and the world they are likely to create. Again not about Product Management, but a great guide to the areas where new products will be built in the near future.