From the reading, I gathered that the biggest thing to takeaway about PM is that PMs have to be comfortable with ambiguity. There isn’t very clear, cut out guidelines on what the job itself entails – as mentioned: “every single product job on every single team at every single company is a little different.” I think being a PM means taking agency even though you don’t necessarily have the authority of a CEO or upper management figure. It means having faith in your team that they will execute. It also means taking responsibility for the failings of the product if that does happen. It also means being cognizant and proactive, getting in front of potential problems before they occur.
I do have a few questions I’d be interested in asking the author of the book. How should one prepare for a PM career and actually get the job? It feels like for roles that have more nebulous definitions, it becomes harder to tailor your resume to fit that. Furthermore, what steps should one take to develop those skills? It seems like different companies want different kinds of PMs – some are fine with PMs that are graduating from college, whereas others have more stringent requirements and would prefer PMs that have prior industry experience. Finally, how do you prioritize your tasks? It seems a lot about being a PM is thriving in ambiguity, but in that ambiguity, how do you pinpoint what’s important and what’s not? How do you identify what needs to be done ASAP?
