Good post. I've blogged about this exact topic and have asked VCs the Product Management question you pose. The answers can be found near the end of this post.
Oops! I didn't see that post, Saeed - it's a great series, for sure. Sorry to have doubled up...
Saeed Khan
· 1 year ago
Adam, no problem. It's an important topic and I'm happy to see others thinking about the same thing.
Saeed
eagle.eye
· 1 year ago
You've hit the nail when you say "Personally, I think a start to this is to get product management to be an actual subject / role / element taught to business students in MBA programs. Finance is. Marketing is. Sales, strategy, “organizational behavior,” etc…. Why not product mgmt?" Aye!
Adam Bullied
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the comment, sridharo. Maybe eventually we'll see this happen, but unfortunately, I don't think it will be something that goes in to these types of programs for the foreseeable future.
Scott Sehlhorst
· 1 year ago
Hey Adam, great! article.
As we've talked about before, you're spot on. Product Management needs to work in concert with multiple disciplines - sales, engineering, marketing. If it is subordinate to any one of them, the system becomes biased against optimal decisions. Doesn't make them impossible, but why go out of your way to set up something with a baked-in bias?
Adam Bullied
· 1 year ago
Exactly, Scott. There is no sense in having any one of the functional teams enforce their own personal bias on the product overall. They are all going to want something different based on their own unique interests, and it's product management's job to transcend those opinions / take the in to account and deliver something that's best for the market.
Its not exactly Prod Mgmt,but sounds like a distant relative.Thats why I am targetting this school for my mba ;-)
Adam Bullied
· 1 year ago
Sridhar - I think that's great! I actually have a friend that's headed to Boston for her MBA in the fall...
pjhtaylor
· 1 year ago
In the telecom industry we have product management roles (e.g. Director, Head of, etc.) reporting to CEO equivalents. I believe you'll find similar positions advertised (or referred to) over at ProductManager.com. I too, believe the role should be addressed in MBA coursework and/or electives.
Adam Bullied
· 1 year ago
It's so fantastic to hear from a PM in another industry besides Web / tech! Thanks so much for commenting on this.
One of my thoughts for a while now (hence my "manifesto" post) is that product mgmt, regardless of industry, has to have a similar set of fundamentals and a singular philosophy. So it's great to hear.
I wasn't even aware that productmanager.com existed, so thanks so much for pointing it out. There are some of us working behind the scenes on these blogs a bit to make some standard information more available / reference-able (as opposed to the blog format, which is much more post- to-post). A couple of us are also working on some different mediums for the deliver of the information, which again, will hopefully make this stuff a bit more within reach for those that are hunting for the knowledge.
All Comments
Good post. I've blogged about this exact topic and have asked VCs the Product Management question you pose. The answers can be found near the end of this post.
http://onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2007/0...
Saeed
Sorry to have doubled up...
Saeed
"Personally, I think a start to this is to get product management to be an actual subject / role / element taught to business students in MBA programs. Finance is. Marketing is. Sales, strategy, “organizational behavior,” etc…. Why not product mgmt?"
Aye!
happen, but unfortunately, I don't think it will be something that
goes in to these types of programs for the foreseeable future.
As we've talked about before, you're spot on. Product Management needs to work in concert with multiple disciplines - sales, engineering, marketing. If it is subordinate to any one of them, the system becomes biased against optimal decisions. Doesn't make them impossible, but why go out of your way to set up something with a baked-in bias?
enforce their own personal bias on the product overall. They are all going
to want something different based on their own unique interests, and it's
product management's job to transcend those opinions / take the in to
account and deliver something that's best for the market.
Check this link
http://www.isb.edu/media/UsrSiteNewsMgmt.aspx?t...
Its not exactly Prod Mgmt,but sounds like a distant relative.Thats why I am targetting this school for my mba ;-)
tech! Thanks so much for commenting on this.
One of my thoughts for a while now (hence my "manifesto" post) is that
product mgmt, regardless of industry, has to have a similar set of
fundamentals and a singular philosophy. So it's great to hear.
I wasn't even aware that productmanager.com existed, so thanks so much
for pointing it out. There are some of us working behind the scenes on
these blogs a bit to make some standard information more available /
reference-able (as opposed to the blog format, which is much more post-
to-post). A couple of us are also working on some different mediums
for the deliver of the information, which again, will hopefully make
this stuff a bit more within reach for those that are hunting for the
knowledge.
Thanks for the comment!