[RKlophaus]

I'm three months into a product management gig. Interesting so far, learning many good skills. I'd recommend it, especially if your buddy can find a way to take the 3-day training course by Pragmatic Marketing (try to have Steve Johnson as your instructor). I've never been a fan of training (I learn better out of books) but this one is good.

The way I've been describing product management to fellow HN readers is thusly:

We're all familiar with "Build something people want." Most tech folks focus 90% of their energy developing skills around the "build" part of that sentence. (How many languages do you really need to know?)

Product management is a skillset for figuring out the rest of the sentence. What is "something?" Who are the "people" and what do they "want?" (And how badly do they want it?

The thing that your buddy should realize is that product management isn't about brainstorming new ideas. That's R&D.

Product management is about identifying your market, interviewing and surveying your buyers and your users; recognizing a pattern to their problems, devising a solution that delights them, writing the requirements, rinse, repeat. When practiced well, it should all be driven by market data.

It _is_ a great way to experience a different part of the product lifecycle.

Hope that was helpful.