Manage Your Career Strategy like a Product

Those of us who build products spend our days making decisions to create value for our customers. Yet we often let decisions about our career strategy fall to the bottom of the priority list, or worse, relinquish the most important decisions about our careers to others.You likely aren’t passive about the direction your product takes. You probably don’t add features haphazardly without some guiding principles and goals. So why be passive about your career strategy?

If your career is essential to you, why would you not spend more time managing your career with the same dedication you have for your product?

A Career Strategy on Autopilot?

For much of my early career, I defaulted to the choices that others gave me. I accepted the first job offer that came my way at the end of college. The salary was decent, and the job was in an incredible city (Seattle), and, well, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I said "yes."Without much reflection, I continued to say "yes" to the projects and promotions that required moving cities. While I don’t regret the decisions, the forks in my “career road” had significant consequences on the direction my life has taken.If I were to do it all again, I would have been more proactive and deliberative in my early career choices. However, in retrospect, my career has turned out well due to the lessons learned along the way, and I am happy with where I am today.Take control over your career strategy and guide it toward great opportunities that fit your career aspirations. Had I done that earlier, I would have gotten to a place of career satisfaction faster. And probably would have had more fun.

Further insights into successful product management careers:

Give More than the Expected

One way to take more control over the direction of your career is to put in more effort. I’m not talking about the number of hours you put in. I believe that there is only a slight correlation between the number of hours you spend working and the value you provide.I’m talking about if you are delivering only on what others expect, you’re not likely to be showing great results.You’ve likely heard of the minimum viable product (MVP). It’s the early version of your product, service, or feature that gives just enough value to customers so that you can learn and iterate.I like that metaphor for a career: get your foot in the door, and then work hard to satisfy your customers (peers, your bosses, and your actual customers). However, you can’t stay there.

Like a product, if you are delivering only the minimum, then you ultimately won’t stand out and succeed.

Part of a minimum viable product needs to include a “delighter.” The path to creating standout products requires teams to provides customers with something they don’t expect will create value. A "delighter" can also provide an experience that customers might not have known they needed. That’s the path to creating standout products.Your career is the same. If you fall into a static, expected routine, you’ll appear mediocre (or not seen at all). But if you can present new ideas, take on projects that can make a difference, capture a previously unforeseen customer need, or recognize trends that will happen in the next 2-3 years, you can stand out.What are some things you’ve seen this week that you’d like to change for the better? Is there a trend in your industry that you could present research to your field? What is a competitor doing that you think is particularly interesting? Have you spoken to a customer recently whose voice represents a pressing need? These are great opportunities for you to do extra work to stand out and do more than the minimum.

3 Values to Drive Your Career Strategy

Products require direction. Unless you’ve outlined your product's strategic goals and values, how do you know what to prioritize? Like a product, we can get your career heading in the right direction once we’re in touch with your values.I recently conducted a workshop on how to be an “essentialist” product manager. One of the critical foundations we discussed is to know your personal and career values. I broke the values into three categories:

• Lifestyle values
• Intrinsic work values
• Extrinsic work values

Lifestyle values

Your lifestyle values describe your personal preferences about where you live or how you like to spend your free time. They may include your long-term life goals. Examples of lifestyle values:

• Spending time with family
• Having lots of friends nearby
• Living in a small town
• Having a big house
• Opportunities to live in other countries
• Saving money for the future
• Opportunities for physical activity
• Religion / spirituality

Intrinsic work values

Intrinsic values are the intangible rewards that keep you motivated and engaged at your job and make you wake up in the morning and look forward to working - they are the areas you find most meaningful.

Examples of intrinsic values:

• Learning a lot from my job
• Having a lot of variety and change at work.
• Getting satisfaction from helping others (customers, co-workers)
• Feeling respected at work
• Being competitive at work
• Having a sense of achievement
• Feeling like I’m part of something important

Extrinsic work values

Extrinsic values are the qualities that you see as external rewards for the work you do. Whether or not you find your work personally meaningful, it can still have extrinsic value to you.

Examples of extrinsic values:

• Having job security
• Getting a high salary or compensation
• Setting your hours / flexible work policy
• Time away from work (e.g., excellent vacation policy)
• Regular promotions or recognition
• Having autonomy or having independence at work
• Traveling for work is enjoyable
• Doing creative work
• Being a leader

Taking a bit of time to contemplate these will serve you well. If I had genuinely thought about these categories earlier, I would have taken a more proactive approach with my career and chosen my direction more consciously.

Career Discovery

When I’m validating a new product or significant feature, it’s essential to “get out of the building,” as Steve Blank says. You’re not gaining any insight by sitting behind your desk. It would help if you got out (physically or remotely) and talk with your customers. In product management, this is called “product discovery.”Your career is no different. How are you discovering your options? Are you getting out of the building to learn and find opportunities? Is your network composed entirely of people just like you or in your same industry?If so, shake up your routine, and begin engaging with people who fall outside your practice.These are a few things you can do to take more control over your career. At a minimum, after putting a bit more thought into these areas, you may discover that you have the ideal job. After all, I believe that product management is one of the best careers available. Earlier in my career, had I put more thought into it, I would have gotten to a place of career satisfaction faster. And I probably would have had more fun too.