Why Product Hiring Managers are Risk Averse
As an aspiring Product Manager, I want to understand why hiring manager
I had a P2P consult call recently to help orient someone in their career to get in range to break into product management. As we discussed the knowledge needed to operate in the role the subject of understanding the Software Development Life Cycle came up.
The software development cycle is the process of someone having an idea for a product or feature, all the way through its release and delivery to a user who can make use of said feature.
A Product Manager’s primary responsibility is to manage this cycle end-to-end1 for the products for which they are responsible. Understanding its intricacies is essential to success in the role.
The PM starts by asking themselves “What could be a useful feature?”. They refine that idea, turn it into workable specs, and shepherd its release to the world - assuring the right users are made aware it exists.
Along the journey, product managers interact with many other individuals for delivering specific elements of this cycle.
A UX designer creates a wireframe for a developer to code against.
A developer writes the code to execute the user story as part of a sprint.
A product marketer helps frame a delivered feature in the language of the users to encourage its use.
When it comes to transitioning to a product manager role - the closer you are to the software development cycle - the more likely you are to be considered for the job
It’s a large, sprawling responsibility to manage an entire dev cycle. It makes it challenging to hire first-time PMs - as no one will Check all the boxes.
The Sprawling Nature of Product Management
When hiring a new product manager for my team, I rarely find a candidate who checks every possible box.
There exists a wide array of responsibilities and skills needed for the job. These can change depending on the specifics of the products managed. Even within the same company, product managers on different teams can have wildly different day-to-day.
The users change. The dev team structures change. The technology stacks change. The business models change.
There is no definitive list of responsibilities that encompasses product management roles. For any open headcount, I consider the specifics of what my team needs and figure out the hard requirements vs nice to haves.
This is a game of risk management.
Why hiring managers like someone familiar with the modern software development cycle, even as a non-PM, is that it mitigates risk. I can at least be confident that such a candidate knows the basic strokes of a product management role. Add in the ability to think critically, and I’ll believe the hire can get up to speed and be productive in a reasonable amount of time.
The purpose of the hiring process is to identify people who can be productive.
It’s not designed for high-risk, high-reward types of individuals.
Risk - and Essential Element in All Product Management Hired
The absolute worst nightmare for any hiring manager is a bad employee.
It’s a mistake that can take years to get out of.
Not only do you lose the benefit of a new team member - there’s now a liability that must be worked around. The stronger members of your team have to pick up the slack. Suddenly the team perks and autonomy normally allowed need to be curbed so as to keep this poor employee in check.
Even worse - in the US, you can’t just fire them! There are mountains of employment law to be mindful of to fire said bad apple. It’s a massive pain.
This fear is what underlies all layers of bureaucracy one must jump through to land a product management job.
The only thing I want out of a product manager is someone who can hit deadlines and get code shipped. As a team lead, I am ultimately judged by progress against the roadmap. To accomplish this, I need efficient and effective direct reports.
The key to shipping code on time is having an innate understanding of each element of the software development cycle. Knowing step by step how a feature can go from idea to production code is the job of product management!
For someone new to product work - I need them aware of each element of the cycle. There are snakes in the grass, and someone who has never been a participant in the dev cycle is blind to where the deadly reptiles lurk.
You don’t have to be an expert, but you need to be at least tangibly aware of where something could go wrong.
It’s for this reason that new product managers come from roles that contribute directly to the software development cycle. These are the people that have borne witness to the pitfalls of releasing new code.
It’s Smart To Consider Contributors to The Software Development Cycles For Product Jobs
The easiest person it is for me to turn into a product manager is one who has been adjacent to the role. It’s why I love a developer turned product manager. They know intimately well the steps to completing an Epic, as they’ve been the ones writing the code in the past.
After developers, the next easiest cohort to transition into product are other contributors to specific elements of the Software Development Cycle. Think QA, UX, or Product Marketers. They’re working in sprints, focused on specific functionality, and interacting with PMs daily.
There’s a lot I need to teach my direct reports when they’re hired into a product role on my team. When I’m deciding on who to bring aboard, I have to decide where I want someone ready on day 1 vs. where am I willing to spend time to coach them up.
Gaps in a candidate’s knowledge = more work for me.
If you have never heard of a sprint and user stories and grooming a ticket - I’m going to have to stay pretty close to help you acclimate to this new chaotic world.
For the hiring manager, this means:
This means less focus on the technical team.
This means less focus on the product.
This means less time on the roadmap.
I’m in a highly paid highly visible position where people expect results. I’m not in the business of taking a risk someone who is going to require more time of mine vs. other candidates to get up to speed.
How to Embrace the Risk-Averse Hiring Manager Approach When Breaking Into Product
Hiring managers in product is busy.
The benefit of this to you is they are not spending hours a day vetting every detail of your experience. Usually, it’s a quick glance immediately before the interview.
The bar you must hit to be “Plausible’ on paper to understand specific elements of the software development cycle. If you can then speak to it when asked, you are golden.
You do not need to have to lead a massive multi-geography go-to-market effort to satisfy the Go-to-market requirements of the job.
You only need to speak on how you got the specific users who care about a new feature to be aware of it upon release.
The whole of my materials on breaking into product management can be summarized into 3 steps.
Get in the range where someone might consider you for a Product Role
Get experience in specific elements of the Software Development Cycle
Learn how to package those experiences in a marketable way that someone will offer you a job
Breaking into product management can appear completely and utterly confusing.
I’m here to demystify that process into simpler, concrete steps that do not require spending hundreds of thousands of $$ on an MBA.
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End-to-end - The Process of going from Idea, all the way through the entire Software Development Cycle to the Production Release of a Feature or Product