Looking for suggestions to create a Product Owner/Mgr position at work

October 21, 2017 3:15 PM

I'm looking for suggestions include in a proposal to create a Product Owner/Manager position at work.

I work at a mediumish web design/hosting and web services company. Outside of our websites, our other web products cold be classified as software as a service. Those products are created, thrown up on the servers and not looked after frequently. Any updates come suddenly when management decides something needs to be added immediately (not unusual for a lot of companies, I know). I think we're at a point where we need a Product Manager or Product Owner.

I'm looking for suggestions I can include in a proposal to create the position.

Admittedly, I want that person to be me. I've worked for the company for a few years in the tech support department and have gone as far as I can. I'd like a career change and Product Management looks interesting. I've signed up for a Coursera course (I don't know if that will help or not). I've done smallish project over the years also. Thanks!

posted by badger11 to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Best answer: My first question to you, if you want the person to be you, is are you already doing the work that this person would do?

It might help if you start formalizing processes that look like product management, and then propose the role. It would certainly help in places I've worked, if you were already doing work that fits the role.

It would help to have buy in from coworkers that product management would be useful. If they're going to fight having formal processes they're going to fight you if you get a formal title. Better to have them in agreement that the job is needed and that you're the right person for it. I don't know anything about your workplace, in some cases I've seen proposing a new role is opening a Pandora's Box. You might get it, it might get shot down, or everyone will agree it's needed and it'll turn out that your managers best friend Bob just happens to be looking for a job and has product management in his background.
posted by jzb at 5:56 PM on October 21, 2017

Best answer: I recommend checking out materials from Mind the Product and Pragmatic Marketing (despite the name, it's mostly about product management). Mind the Product in particular has a lot of good "101"-type resources, and if you search on YouTube, you can find many videos from their conferences and meetups.

For books, a few popular ones are Simon Sinek's Start with Why (TED talk video), Eric Reis' The Lean Startup, Marty Cagan's Inspired, and Nir Eyal's Hooked.

I agree with jzb that a good place to start is to write your "ideal" job description for a PO/PM at your company. Giving management a concrete description of the role and responsibilities will help foster discussion. It can also help you start thinking about the question of how you'll measure your success in the role.
posted by neushoorn at 2:18 AM on October 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Check out the intercom blog and podcasts there are lots of resources online about this role. It can certainly vary based on the product and company you are at. If you can convince upper management that you can represent the needs of the clients and prioritize initiatives then you'll have a great chance at landing this job. I have worked closely with PO/PM and they're usually great at selling the business on new initiatives.
posted by andendau at 9:02 PM on November 12, 2017