Clarity Required
Hi PM's
I have been a PM for the last 1.5 years before that I had marketing experience after which I took a career change and landed here
The work I did in PM till now has been quite focused on execution part but not product/strategy neither I developed any kind of product roadmap or was involved.
In job 1 (small company less than 20 workforce) - I spent around 11 months in which I created 3 apps 2 web and one mobile as per business direction and their approach towards customer and market then I changed my job because I was more interested to change my domain since I had spent around 5 years approx in a single domain and also wanting to manage a bit mature product along with to learn product strategy and roadmap and also monetary upgrade
I was the only Pm here spearheading everything below me were QA and project co-ordinator and outsourced developers
In job 2 (A company with around 400-500 employees) - I have spent around 4 months as a PM here it's a new domain their product is a bit mature has thousands of users but again I feel the same as I felt earlier I have been doing more execution work rather than strategy and roadmap or learn any new skills neither I feel the boss is very helpful and he's is the co-founder of the company.
Here also I am the only PM here but tech is inhouse and we have a great bonding in terms of work but everyone feels dissatisfied nor they have learnt anything new since arriving.
There are also concerns at company level which I feel are scary that their goal is to optimize costs from everywhere possible and they have not been paying salary on time plus the upper management is also implementing extreme micromanagement on tech and product function as we all feel like we have been just striking list from sheet in terms of development which we are supposed to complete.
I am again thinking to switch job but the market is not well as it was few months back I am in a bit of dilemma here on what is right and what is not?
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If you’re early in your pm career then you’ll be an execution heavy pm. Working with tech directly has its own benefits. You’ll get to learn tech stuff well which will definitely give you an edge in the future.
Having said that if you really want to change the path/ company, then it’s not a correct market. Hold out a bit.
PM role is mostly execution till you reach a Product leadership level....Only there, there is strategy.
Create time for strategy work.
Time to think long term, here's what you can do y To be more strategic
- Create time/ energy for thinking long term
- Build a unique proposition/ thesis on what should be built
- Don't share this till you have done enough validation and once you have data + customer insights
- Block time with manager/ founder/ CEO
Walk them through the plan.
PM is a fictional role, it is unreasonable to expect that as a PM you would be sitting in a room and discussing "strategy". Having the understanding of analytics, business strategy and most importantly technology makes a PM a good PM. Your words feel like you have never coded, having exposure to tech is a great boon. This answer only addresses your PM learning problem, company culture can crappy which is different problem.
You don't have to wait for an opportunity to think about on a strategy for your product. First learn what is strategy and how/when to leverage it. There are some great articles and books out there (see Gibson Biddle for articles, Good strategy / bad strategy for more deeper discussion on the topic. Once you get a hang of it, start applying it to your scope no matter how small. Seek feedback from your eng and product counterparts and be prepared to be grilled and change your POV based on new insights. Slowly but surely you'll get a hang of it and start seeing it as a natural extension of your product acumen. As to your company being cost sensitive - you are not in a unique situation given the macro situation. When the company changes gears your POV could still be useful. Happy to chat IRL if you need more guidance.