PM FAQ
A collection of answers to common questions on Product Management
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A product is a good developed for a market rather than an individual customer. Products can be physical, like a car, or virtual, like data or software. Products follow a lifecycle from conception through withdrawal from the market. Product management is a discipline responsible for making the product successful throughout its lifecycle.
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Product management is a professional discipline in product development accountable for creating a viable product business. It can be thought of a scientific approach to converting ideas into viable product buisnesses. Product management is a part of the product team that defines what the product should be from a functional perspective and works with engineering who implement the product. Product management also works with other product disciplines like sales and marketing to ensure the product is successful.
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Product management is practiced differently in different organizations. There is no widely acknowledged central authority that defines the discipline.
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Marty Cagan's book "Inspired" is considered a seminal work on product management.
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A market comprises all the entities (people, businesses, governments) with the interest and means to buy a product. Having "interest" means that the entity perceives value in the product. Have the "means" indicates that the entity has access to the product and, if required, can pay for it. "Customers" are the part of the market that has purchased your product.
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Unfortunately, the terms "market" and "customer" are often used interchangeably. In product management literature, there is often undue emphasis on understanding customers, often at the expense of understanding the part of the market that hasn't yet bought a product.
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Product managers (in tech) do not typically need to be technicians, although having technical knowledge related to the implementation of the product they manage is helpful. There are many very successful product managers who are not highly technical. In practice, having no technical ability can make being an effective PM more difficult as:
- You may lose credibility with some engineers
- It will be difficult to assess implementation trade-offs for engineering work
- It will be difficult to understand and push back on engineering estimates
To get some insight into the value of technical skills for PMs, think about hiring a plumber. Do you need to know a lot about plumbing to hire a plumber? You don't but that knowledge can help you make better decisions (and avoid being taken advantage of!).
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Many product managers in tech ask if they should learn how to code. We believe that there are other technical aspects of product development that are more valuable, e.g., architecture, development methodologies.
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Do product managers in tech need to know how to code (program)?
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The Top 5 Technical Skills Every Product Manager Should Know
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Most product managers in tech do not need to know how to code. Other technical knowledge such as an understanding of development frameworks like Scrum, familiarity with architecture topics, and insight into technology trends are more important than ability to program. Product managers working on products aimed at technicians, particularly programmers, may need to know how to code.
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We get this question consistently. Understanding the challenges faced by engineers can help you be more empathetic and understand their estimates for feature development. However, there are many successful product managers who don't know how to code (either because they never learned or their programming skills have become stale/obsolete).
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Do product managers need technical skills?
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We've heard very good things about this free course from Harvard.
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A good is a useful, consumable item (physical or virtual) that is produced via human effort. In basic economic theory, goods are often distinguished from services. Products are goods, which has important implications for their management, particularly in relation to services.
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There are many product management certifications available from reputable companies that provide valuable training. However, there is little evidence that these certifications are highly valued in general by employers. Having a PM certification is unlikely to make you less attractive as a candidate, but it might not make you significantly more marketable. Aspiring PMs might consider certification to demonstrate that, although they don't have work experience, they have invested time and effort in learning about the discipline.
There are other certifications that are Agile/Scrum related, e.g., product owner certification. These more general certifications may be perceived as more valuable by organizations that are using Agile methodologies (most organizations).
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In our experience, participants in product management training like the idea of getting certified to demonstrate they've made the professional development investment. If you check job postings for product management positions, you'll find that few of them refer to certification at all, much less a particular certification.
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The general answer is "no", you don't need an MBA to be a product manager. Some employers give a preference to MBAs but typically experience is more important. An MBA could be a differentiator between equally qualified candidates but is probably not worth the investment if your primary motivation is getting a PM job (there are many other valid reasons to pursue an MBA). Some things to consider:
- Compare the time/expense of getting an MBA with other professional development activities and convince yourself it's a better investment
- Not all MBAs are created equally
- We still believe there is a basic bias held by most hiring managers related to relevant experience. It's hard to beat a proven track record.
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We've heard anecdotally that the preference for an MBA is growing among employers in some geographies, e.g., India. You should research your local job market and the companies you'd like to work for to assess the impact of an MBA on your marketability.
We did a bit of cursory research on "Director/Senior Director of PM" on a North American job site. We looked at the first 10 companies (not job postings) and found that only one mentioned having an MBA, and there it was strongly preferred.
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What are the most important certifications for product managers?
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There are tons of good books on product management. If you're not sure where to start, consider Marty Cagan's "Inspired". You can find a huge number of books on PM and related topics using career.pm's Search. Just click that link and then search for specific topics, e.g, pricing.
You can also search Google for innumerable lists of PM books.
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Feel free to suggest books you don't find in our index.
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You can find thousands of hand-picked resources on product management with career.pm's Search. We've collected books, articles, blogs, Podcasts, and more, all accessible from the search bar up top.
On the left side of the page:
- Select Curated to find resources we've found especially valuable
- Click career.pm to see the resources that we offer. Some resources require a membership.
- Click a category to browse that content type or search within content types.
- Feel free to suggest resources you don't find in our index
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This simple question has no easy answer. People come to product management from a host of backgrounds. Here are a few things to consider:
- Most employers expect PM candidates to have experience. This creates a "chicken and egg" impasse as those wishing to become PMs have trouble getting hired to get the experience the market desires.
- The most common path we've seen is transitioning from a non-PM role, e.g., engineering, marketing, to a PM role within a company that has a spontaneous need
- Very few PMs are hired right out of college although it's not unheard of (most we've seen have MBAs)
- There seem to be a massive number of people trying to break into product management (perhaps at a 20:1 ratio to practicing PMs). This makes getting that first gig even more challenging.
How you become a PM often depends on your current/previous experience. Over time, we'll address more and more "paths" into product management (check back for new "Related Questions" in this FAQ).
Here are some tips that can help you learn about PM and build your network to increase your chances of landing a PM job:
- Get training in tech product management. A good course will give you an end-to-end perspective and help you identify your weak points.
- Study and/or take training on Agile (a set of software development values/principles). You should also learn about Scrum (an Agile framework).
- If you work in a firm that has a product management function, let your leadership and PM leadership know that you're interested in exploring PM.
- Network with PMs both inside your company and at events like meet-ups. Ask them questions about the work they do and the organizations they work for.
- "PM" your own product idea, even if you don't plan to take it to market. Read about "product discovery" and generate artifacts like a Lean Canvas and product roadmap. It will give you practical insight into important aspects of PM and may provide you with artifacts you can share with prospective employers.
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If you'd like help landing your first tech PM gig, check out what career.pm has to offer.
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Product management training can be an excellent way of getting an overview of the discipline or deep diving into relevant topics. You should thoroughly research the organization giving the training and ensure that the trainer has the relevant experience.
Both "presence" (physically co-located) and online courses are available. You can research online or talk to people in your network about the most effective training for your situation.
You might hear some say that PM training will not make you a good PM. That is the case for almost any type of training for any profession! Training can be a highly valuable part of a broader professional development plan.
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career.pm offers training as part of a personalized professional development plan. We have online courses that can be augmented by coaching and other assets.
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Should I get certified as a product manager?
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One of the better analogies we've found to describe product management to an audience that knows nothing about product development is the celebrity chef. Many of these chefs own restaurants. However, if you visit one of these eateries, it would be silly to expect to find that the celebrity owner in the kitchen boiling water and cutting carrots. Likewise, the chef is unlikely to bring you the wine list. Rather, the chef defines a menu in the context of an overall experience (service, ambiance) and then works with a team of technicians to realize that vision. If you are unhappy at the end of your meal at one of these restaurants, it’s not the person who cooked the food you will complain about to your friends; you will blame the celebrity chef because she is ultimately accountable for delivering a great dining experience (although many other people make an important contribution).
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Product management involves a significant amount of judgment and even intuition but at its core, product management is a science. Science is the study of the world based on experimentation and observation, two critical activities that lie at the core of product management.
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For years, the intuitive aspects of product management have been emphasized, discouraging people from pursuing the discipline. Most activities in product management can be learned. Applying a scientific approach helps PMs develop the needed intuition and acumen over time.
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Agile is a set of values and principles that provide the basis for multiple development frameworks used to manage the development of technology products primarily, e.g., Scrum. Agile was first codified in the Agile Manifesto, an artifact everyone involved in technology product development should read. Agile can be thought of as a response to low success rates in software development and inflexible processes associated with the Waterfall approach to managing software projects (like product releases). The authors of the Agile Manifesto published a list of related principles.
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Agile is often confused with the development frameworks it has inspired, especially Scrum. Agile IS NOT a development methodology or framework; it is a set of values (from the manifesto) and the associated principles.
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Scrum is a framework designed to help teams solve problems while "productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value" (per scrum.org). Scrum is used by a majority of product development organizations.
Scrum define 3 "roles":
- A Product Owner is the exclusive owner of a list of requirements (product backlog) and is responsible for maximizing the value of the Development Team.
- The Development Team comprises professionals who implement an "increment" of a product under development
- The Scrum Master helps everyone understand Scrum "theory, practices, rules, and values" to maximize the value delivered by the Development Team.
Scrum defines 5 "Events":
Scrum defines 3 "Artifacts":
See the Resources section of this FAQ for more information.
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Although most organizations claim to be using Scrum, not all of them have adapted the Agile mindset it is based on. Scrum is also used to manage work outside of product development.
There is considerable confusion regarding the difference between product management and product ownership.
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This is an age-old question that is particularly important in hiring decisions. Is it better to take a candidate with strong product chops or a subject matter ninja? The answer is, of course, contextual. Some positions require deep domain expertise for a candidate to add value. However, in general, our experience has shown that a product manager can come up to speed on a new domain much faster than it takes someone to understand “product” (we’re consultants so we learn new domains all the time while the meter is ticking).
Very often, we encounter organizations of all sizes and maturity levels that could benefit from someone who has experience applying *the science of product management*. This knowledge and experience takes years to develop. If we think of an artificial case in which one candidate is a successful PM but the other knows the domain, we believe you should carefully consider opting for an infusion of product knowledge and experience. In this case, you’ll need a clear plan for the PM to come up to speed on the domain. You are likely to find that their product knowledge and experience are immediately valuable and that the overall value they provide will grow quickly as they come up to speed on the domain.