| (Author here.) I've long wanted to write a follow-up piece addressing exactly these questions, but haven't gotten around to it. First, find a PM to talk to, especially one you admire who's made the switch. Everybody's situation is different, and having someone to mentor you through it is invaluable. Second, make sure you have the right motivations. A friend of mine says "run to product management, not from engineering." If you want to switch because your current manager is a jerk, you hate the project you're working on, or (gasp!) your PM is an idiot, you might be doing it for the wrong reasons. You could test it out with a small project at first. Stepping up and saying "I'd love to take on more of a PM role on this feature/bug/release" will often be positively received by a healthy organization. Startups are ideal places to make the switch (that's where I did it.) Everyone is used to wearing many hats and the "all hands on deck" attitude is much more welcoming of someone raising their hand and volunteering to be a PM. Smart, bigger companies (like Google or Facebook) often have formal programs for moving into PM. At Google, for example, we even have a six-month rotation program that lets you try it on for size. And if you're convinced you want to do it and your current company discourages you, find a new one. |
I first wanted to say thanks for putting up this essay on product management. I don't think quality pieces on the subject are easy to come by, and I think you give a lot of valuable and tangible insight on it.
Second, it looks like you favor past experience as a PM --- but what about college grads? Do you think it's usually a better idea for someone just beginning their career in the "real world" to start out as an engineer first? Maybe this sounds obvious as I've stated it, but I have a few friends that started their careers as PMs and have been successful. Interviewing a college grad might be a little trickier, no?
Lastly, I definitely agree that a big part of being a good PM, or maybe a good manager in general, is making good, or even just reasonable, decisions on a regular basis. There are seemingly endless small choices that need to be made that add up to a lot, and many of these choices (I've found) aren't going to be dead obvious. A decision, however, needs to be made and it's important that to make a decent one without dedicating too much time to it based off of your understanding of the goals of the project, your experience, and your gut instinct.