This is my story of how to get into product management & how you could too. This is a journey I had myself from data analytics to product management. If you like what you read, I'd love to collaborate with you please get in touch.
My Story
In 2013 I moved from a data analyst role to a product management role and I wanted to share my personal story. As a data analyst, I worked closely with the product team, providing things like insights into user behavior and analysis of A/B tests. I also created reports that were used to answer hypothetical questions about the product and user behavior, to prove or disprove assumptions made by the business.
Before leaving my data analyst role I went on two different training courses. The first one was an intensive scrum management course run by Scrum Alliance, and my fellow students were a diverse group of product managers, scrum masters, analysts, and developers. The course focused on the day-to-day management of teams and product backlogs. For me, the real benefit of the course was the opportunity to discuss problems and challenges with people from very different business backgrounds.
I also went on a much longer Product Management course run by General Assembly (GA). This covered many aspects of product management and related business development and focussed on working on early-stage products. This course gave me a much deeper in product management.
Putting ideas into practice
This course gave me plenty of ideas for improving processes at work. I was able to back up my suggestions by reporting what other students had said they were doing at their companies. My managers weren’t always receptive to new ideas, particularly from a more junior staff member.
So I knew I had to find a way to implement my knowledge in my own way, in order to demonstrate the skill set I developed.
The first thing I did was apply product management techniques to my work as a data analyst, creating a backlog of work, managing it, and creating work that matched what my stakeholders needed. I took this principle further by creating my own website that combined free and premium content (The Startup Magazine).
I used the skills and techniques I’d learned in my courses to analyze site visitors and run a user survey. For example when I started monetizing the site by producing an eBook. I tracked visitor behavior and when I recognized difficulties with the eCommerce plug-in I’d chosen, I changed to a different platform with an immediate improvement in results.
Finding the right opportunity such as a project or product at work, or something outside, it's the best way for you to show your product know-how. Together I can help you identify the skills gap you may have, help you learn more about product management, and find the right opportunity for you to implement your new skills.
Moving ahead
I knew that data analysis is influential in decision-making and thought that meant that the transition to a product management role would be easy for me. That wasn’t the case. It took me a while to find a suitable new employer, neither too large nor too small, where I’d be allowed to learn and grow in an established team. I was very lucky to eventually find a job working with a head of product who did not expect me to know everything on the first day, and who was keen to help me learn, grow and develop my career in product management.
I found that although I do use some data analysis and data mining in my new role, these activities only account for a relatively small portion of my week. I do use a combination of skills I learned in the two courses I took earlier. The Scrum course taught me how to write user stories, lead planning and review meetings, prioritize the backlog, and monitor team velocity.
The Product Management course taught me how to analyze and understand customer feedback, how to address Minimum Viable Product (MVP) decisions, and how to collate user requirements and transform them into features and stories.
The move from data to product was not as straightforward as I had hoped, but the training courses definitely helped. However, the practical experience I am gaining in my new role is far more valuable.
If you have the ambition to work in product management there are ways you can gain some experience in advance. For example, you can offer to help in a startup, work on your own product ideas and publish them on the web, or find a relevant internship in an existing product team. I am sure that if you are determined your efforts will eventually pay off.