The accidental profession: Product Manager

I work as a Lead consultant at Thoughtworks and my role is usually called Business Analyst. This post is entirely about hoe I ended up becoming a Product Manager.

Like what Steven Haines tells in this book: “THE PRODUCT MANAGER’S DESK REFERENCE”, Product Manager is an accidental profession.

"You may have backed into Product Management from another field or
business discipline.”

I landed this position because of the following reasons:

We are a services company. No one was interested in a product team.
No one was sure what to do as a Business Analyst in the product team
No one was convinced that this specific product would be successful.

I ended up getting the job and was left to figure out what to do in the team.

I was to be the business analyst trying to line up functional work for the product engineering team
I have to manage the team - with respect to the team members and make sure I plan for the functional work to complete
I was to interact with our current product owner and build the product road map.

What I ended up doing - as the title suggests - was entirely different.

p.s: “The Product Manager’s desk Reference" is a really good book to start learning. You can order it from Amazon here

Comments

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