Breakthrough into product management

[MohdNoman]

what all stuff every successful product management present in this beautiful community did at the very start to get his first breakthrough into product management was lit an internal change or was it a keen interest in product management or was it any other way

if anyone can help this please reply thank you have a good day

[NatashaMartin]

Happy to share.

I had to convince PMs at my employer to give me an opportunity to work on a project. It was not an easy sell. I was in business development before transitioning to product and the hiring manager needed to see that I could

1. Work with engineers
2. Manage a project and execute on time
3. Have empathy for the customers and would not compromise easily
4. Have some sense of design and respect for the work of designers
5. Have a business acumen to build a business case and present to executives
6. Have leadership skills to bring people along for the ride

I was able to use my background to convince the hiring manager on (3), (5), and (6). But, I had to work a lot harder to get the other 3 going. I participated in make-a-thons where I worked with engineers and designers to design new features that I had from customers in my BD role. I then presented that work to leadership and got funding to grow the project. I was still not the PM on the project but I worked a lot more closely with a PM and could the ropes of building products.

It took 4 months of working on a side project and doing my full-time BD role before I was able to convince the hiring manager to give me a full-time role. The fact that I was able to come up with an idea, lead an initiative to do a project, and then work towards scaling that project build my credibility. I also got good reviews from my teammates who valued my contribution and thought I would be a good PM.

I was able to show my work instead of talking about how much I want to be a PM. That’s what tilted the scale in my favor.

[SamanthaYuan]

I feel into product management. I was at a small startup doing all sorts of things to keep the lights on. As we started growing, the founder had to focus on building a company instead of building a product. Initially, he kept all the major decision-making with himself and gave me the project management responsibilities of ‘herding the cats’.

Later on, as we started shipping on time with limited bugs, I was given a chance to create a roadmap for the next 6 months. The founder approved it and delivered most of the features and business results planned for the 6 months. That’s when my title officially changed to Product Manager and the rest is history.

Don’t lose hope if it is taking you longer than expected to get your first PM gig. Keep on building your skills. Perhaps get feedback from people on this platform and keep at it. Good luck!