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Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

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Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#21

Post by NearAP »

carchase wrote: post #11
polote wrote: post #2

There is clearly a lack of boards/forums/websites dedicated to product managers. But what I miss the more is a website, when we can get valuable insights about best practices. On HN you can get super useful information about any stack/language/framework by reading the comments, but when you are a PM you have nowhere to get that kind of information

A couple of sites that have been useful to me, in no particular order (not affiliated w/ any): - productmanagerhq.com - productschool.com - mindtheproduct.com - roadmap.com - departmentofproduct.com

Another resource - https://www.forproductmanagers.com/

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#22

Post by AndrewKemendo »

mud_dauber wrote: post #19
polote wrote: post #2

There is clearly a lack of boards/forums/websites dedicated to product managers. But what I miss the more is a website, when we can get valuable insights about best practices. On HN you can get super useful information about any stack/language/framework by reading the comments, but when you are a PM you have nowhere to get that kind of information

Sounds like a good reason to release an HN clone for PMs - or use the r/ProductManagement or r/prodmgmt forums on Reddit in a more consistent manner. I'm all for sharing best practices too - but they're locked in my Google Keep without real sharing capability. SMH.

I can spin a clone up tonight if there is enough interest, cause it's something I think would be valuable. That said, we tried this before specifically for longer form hacker news discussions [1] and it died in less than a year.

Not sure how to guage interest without seeming spammy, people can email me or just upvote this comment I suppose.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17091262

[2] https://hackerforums.co/

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#26

Post by StevePerkins »

captain_crabs wrote: post #5

General question I've been wondering tangentially related: Engineers: is working [edit: replacing 'under' with 'with' due to replies! good clarification, didn't mean under] with a non-technical product manager a dealbreaker for you? (Do you look to filter out places you'd work at while job searching?) Conversely, have you ever worked under a non-technical product manager you loved? Would you mind sharing details abou…

20-years in the industry and counting, and I've never even MET a "technical product manager".

I have met a handful of people who somewhat thought of themselves as technical. Because they did a touch of Visual Basic or something in their first job out of school, before immediately washing out and pursuing a non-technical career. Some of those guys liked to talk loudly about how much they're "one of you", and "get it", etc.

Without exception, that subset of PM's/PO's were absolutely dreadful to work with as a developer. I would ONLY want to work with a non-technical PM/PO, who stays in their lane and is comfortable with their role.

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#27

Post by cpeterso »

Some product and business management blogs that I follow:

Google's re:Work blog: https://rework.withgoogle.com/

Harvard Business Review (HBR) blog: https://hbr.org/the-latest

Practicing IT Project Manager blog shares curated links to project and product management articles: http://blog.practicingitpm.com/

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#28

Post by monkeydust »

rock_hard wrote: post #7
adpirz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner is struggling with this very thing at her work, I'm curious: what are go-to resources for PMs in terms of professional development?

Working with more senior PMs is the only working solution I have found. Product Management is a very complex role...there is no straight forward learning path today other than doing the job ,building shit and strong mentor ship!

Totally agree. I've taken a number of juniors on over the years where I have spotted raw talent. I would say 50% of them are now killing it versus more experienced (and expensive) external hires. 20% are doing just fine. And 30% just couldn't make it work, at least in our organisation.

It's a tough, complicated and at times lonely role but I wouldn't do anything else... working for someone else at least.

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#29

Post by NotAnEconomist »

captain_crabs wrote: post #5

General question I've been wondering tangentially related: Engineers: is working [edit: replacing 'under' with 'with' due to replies! good clarification, didn't mean under] with a non-technical product manager a dealbreaker for you? (Do you look to filter out places you'd work at while job searching?) Conversely, have you ever worked under a non-technical product manager you loved? Would you mind sharing details abou…

> Conversely, have you ever worked under a non-technical product manager you loved? Would you mind sharing details about your situation?

I've had several.

The key feature is that they bring something to the table: I don't actually need technical guidance on how to build the product -- I (or another engineer) knows enough to solve the technical aspects, that's why the corporation is paying me (or them). But what I do need is help coordinating with other teams, help interacting with executives, help prioritizing tasks, help with the kinds of brainstorming exercises that nucleate the project plan, help with understanding and interpreting customer feedback, etc. Colloquially, the "people side" of the job -- it's just not what my skill set is.

So, I actually prefer non-technical PMs: I want people who complement me, not people who are probably less informed about technical issues trying to micromanage my choices there. A non-technical PM is bring a skill set that diversifies a team of engineers, and helps the team more successfully do its job of interacting with both the corporation and customers.

If the PMs here will indulge a couple questions from me:

1. What skills are most useful in an engineer, and how do we make you look good/help you make us look good?

2. What advice would you give to an engineer looking to move into a role like technical adviser, which more directly interfaces with management and executives?

Re: Product-building articles by PMs at major tech companies

#30

Post by [deleted] »

polote wrote: post #2

There is clearly a lack of boards/forums/websites dedicated to product managers. But what I miss the more is a website, when we can get valuable insights about best practices. On HN you can get super useful information about any stack/language/framework by reading the comments, but when you are a PM you have nowhere to get that kind of information

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