How do I tell my boss i want to be a product owner - with a script
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The document details the author's journey from a quality assurance engineer to a product owner (PO), emphasizing the varied backgrounds of those in product management roles. It provides practical tips for aspiring POs, such as understanding market needs, building relationships, and continuously learning, while highlighting the challenges and responsibilities of the role. The author encourages individuals to express their desire to transition into product management despite the difficulties involved.
How do I tell my boss i want to be a product owner - with a script
- 1. Warsaw, May 12 How do I tell my boss I want to be a PO? Daniil Lanovyi
- 3. This story starts with me sitting in the plane that just about to land in Dublin. My hands are shaking a bit. Not because I am afraid to fly but because it's my first product management assignment. And I don't even have this title yet. By the papers I am still a quality assurance engineer. Only yesterday I was writing my test cases and performing old good regression testing. But tomorrow I will be doing product management job. I will meet customers, will need to understand their needs, get to the roots of their problems. And I will come back with a product strategy. 5 years and 10+ of products later I can tell you - it was worth it. Despite all the pain and frustration this craft gives me on a daily basis, I still like this job. And if you want to follow the product management path, I have few tips for you today.
- 4. There is no official career path for product owners. We all came from different backgrounds, experience levels and industries. Technology, marketing, sales, customer support, accounting? PMs are coming from everywhere. Have a look on a couple of examples from where people switch to product management.
- 5. "I started out on a career as an electrical engineer" "PM was my first role in tech - before that I spent a year as a maths teacher!" "I was a music journalist and editor for 10 years"
- 6. "I was a landscape gardener, then became a video games journo, then got headhunted to deliver Nintendo’s European mothership. Obviously." "I was an army officer, biologist and scuba diver. Perfect qualifications for PM work." "Space engineer/orbital dynamicist after studying mech/space degree then did a stint in the Army as a combat engineer"
- 7. Everyone can be a product owner?
- 8. Anybody can become a product owner? Quick answer: yes. If you want to be a product owner, regardless of what you currently do - you have a chance. I'll give you 8 practical tips today to set yourself in the position to get a PO job.
- 9. PM rule #5 : your building full of product experts. Your company needs market experts. Hunt for Market Problems
- 10. PM rule #5 : the building full of product experts. Your company needs market experts. Product experts? You know them. Those are the folks who always know best how something should work, look and perform. But when you ask them why should it work, look, perform… it turns out that most of the stuff they know are their opinions. And we all have opinions. You need market knowledge! Start collecting as much market information as possible. You need to become an expert on the market you're in. Talk with your company customers and users! Talk with any people who have similar problem. Read everything possible about your market. Study carefully all your competitors. Buy customer support guy a beer and ask him to send you customer feedback. Follow your industry on social media. Be on a constant hunt for market problems!
- 12. As been said above: building is full of product experts. But you should be the best of them. Use your company product! Study how it works, why it works. Study the data. How your customers use it. How your users use it. Study the business your company is in. Why it works? Why people buy? How do we sell? You need to know all critical user flows, all major customer experience journeys, have an idea about the technology it's all running on. Not each and every detail is important but When somebody has a question about the product - they go to you.
- 13. Think strategic
- 14. Where do you see your product in 5 years? Why should it be there? Why shouldn't it be somewhere else? How is your market going to change? Is it going to be disrupted? Try to spot some trends. Feel where the wind is blowing. What unexpected competition might arise? How can you differentiate? What unique values can you serve? Product strategy and vision is the why you come to work every day! Try to validate your strategy. Find some data, examples from different industries, business cases from similar companies to at least theoretically prove your point. Try to communicate the strategy back to the company. First unofficially. At lunch or near the coffees machine. Your target is to be a recognized strategic thinker of your product.
- 16. Before you become product owner you can't tell others what they should do? When you do become a product owner ... well, you still cannot do it. PO is a "servant leader" role. Your team does not report to you. Sales does not report to you. Marketing does not report to you. Yet you need them all to deliver a successful product. How? By inspiring people to do a great job. Inspiration is hard, it's not just few positive reinforcement words. It's not a motivational placate. It's not "we can do it!". It's a daily exercise in setting an example, showing people a role model.
- 18. You know what word is the most frequent in a PO's vocabulary? That's the word: "no". Yes, you need to tell no quite a lot. A PO role is a negotiator role. A jogger role. So many people have opinions. All believe their opinion is the "righest"! And you need to tell them "no". But if you want to be successful as a PO, you need to say no in a way that leaves people if not happy, then at least not angry at you. And here personal relationships help. Even before you become a PO. Start building them. Start from basics. Remember your colleague names. Talk at the coffee machine. Care to know their hobby or what they're passionate about. Help people. Go to after work "one beer"s. Have a genuine interest in them and it will come back to you when you'll need their help. Or when you'll need to say no to them for the good of your product. When I ask experienced product managers what advice they would give themselves in the early days of their careers, most answer : I wish I'd understand the importance of relationship building.
- 19. Lookforamentor
- 20. When you want to become a PO - you learn from somebody who is already a PO. Learn from somebody who you want to be like professionally. What do they do? How they behave? Why they do it this way? Offer those people your help. Maybe they have some small tasks they can delegate to you? Or they might invite you to a meeting to listen and take notes? Or they might show you their draft and ask for your opinion? Anything that would help you learn. And then if you're lucky you could find a mentor. Which would be your jackpot as you'd learn more than by any other method.
- 22. And then we come to a product management itself. Lots of companies, specially in central Europe, don't understand product management. That just a fact. This result is a very "creative" definitions of the role. And very, very unexpected expectations those companies have regarding fresh POs. If you find yourself in this situation, I encourage you to always learn and remember how product management should really be like! Even if you're somehow forced to adapt to your company definition.
- 23. Say "I want this job"
- 24. It sounds kind of an obvious, but very often it's the main reason why somebody didn't get a job he or she wanted. Don't be afraid to say it out loud. Don't be afraid to apply when vacancy appears. So many people missed the opportunity simply because their bosses didn't even knew they were interested in the PO role. And then it's important how you say it. If you're a developer, tester, designer, marketeer, sales guy... Company already knows what you can do. Develop, test, design, promote, sale... Instead, you need to show what you can do as a PO. Make sure to showcase all the work you've done regarding a product (even if only theoretical) and your approach for the future.
- 25. Huntformarketproblems Know your product Think strategic
- 26. Lead and Inspire Build relationships Find a mentor
- 28. Still want to be a Product owner?
- 29. Knowing what you know now do you still want to tell your boss you want to be a PO? It's not an easy job, it's damn hard job if you want to make it right. Would you have responsibilities? Sure. You would. Would you have decision power? You might, eventually, some day. Would you have ambitious challenges? Sure you would. Would you have enough resources to make it? Almost never. Do you want power within your organization? That's next door. Do you want to lead cross functional teams without formal authority? Do you want to navigate internal politics just to make something done? Do you want to talk a lot, to go to constant meetings and wonder where your days are going? Do you want to put more than a 100% of your effort into a product knowing that all the glory will go to somebody else? If that's what you want - welcome to the product management.
- 30. And if I haven't scared you off completely and you still want to be a product owner - I'll give you three reasons to still consider this craft:
- 32. How silly it may sounds after what I've told you so far, but PO is still the main responsible for a product success. If not authority wise, but practice wise you're making the difference ... or you can ... if you dare.
- 33. Solve problems and improve life
- 34. Product owners are driven by problems. We see them and want to solve them! Because we can! And when we do eventually ... it feels good.
- 35. Every day is different
- 36. If you don't like routine - welcome to product management. Here every day means new problems :) and new solutions. And therefore - it's very rarely a boring job.
- 37. https://pl.linkedin.com/in/daniill Now I know how I tell my boss I want to be a PO! Daniil Lanovyi slash.dll@gmail.com www.test-n-tell.com