My Journey to Product Management

date
Nov 7, 2024
slug
product-manager
status
Published
tags
Startups
Product
summary
type
Post
In tech circles, I'm often known as "the algorithm guy" – the one who could crack complex technical challenges and write elegant code. Yet, here I am, several years into my career, having transitioned from research to product management. When old friends ask about this shift, their surprise is palpable. After all, why would someone deeply technical move away from their expertise?

The Seeds of Change

My journey began in academia, where I worked on my Master's Thesis in algorithms and data structures, followed by a stint as a cyber researcher during my military service. These experiences honed my analytical and research capabilities, but they also revealed something unexpected: I was becoming less interested in technology for technology's sake, and more fascinated by its impact on real-world problems.

The Cost of Choosing the Wrong Problem

During my military service, I learned a hard but valuable lesson about problem selection. As the lead researcher on a significant project, I watched as we pursued the most technically challenging path to solve a problem, when a simpler solution existed. This choice cost us substantial time and resources – and personally affected me as the primary researcher. This project led to a year of failures, with countless hours spent pursuing dead ends and developing technology for our research. Despite our best efforts, we made little progress towards our goal. This prolonged period of setbacks was mentally and emotionally draining, as I grappled with the feeling of letting down my team and superiors. However, these failures were invaluable lessons. This experience profoundly shaped my future approach to problem-solving: I learned that sometimes the most sophisticated technical solution isn't the right answer.

Two Pivotal Pieces of Advice

Early in my career, while contemplating entrepreneurship, I received two pieces of advice from successful entrepreneurs who had built unicorns that would shape my trajectory:
  1. "Get yourself in front of customers"
  1. "You cannot jump directly to business. Move from research → product → business"
At the time, the meaning of "product" in the second piece of advice wasn't clear to me. But it would become crystal clear later in my journey.

The Natural Progression

At Sentra, I deliberately positioned myself close to customer interactions. As the first software engineer, I gravitated toward customer-facing areas: onboarding processes and infrastructure deployment. This naturally led me to a solution/presales engineering role.
However, as our team grew and sales professionals joined, I noticed something interesting. My work, while important, felt tactical. There was a strategic layer above – the product management layer – where the real direction was being set.

The Reality of Product Management

Transitioning to product management was eye-opening. As Ben Horowitz eloquently describes in Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager, it's an incredibly demanding role. You need to:
  • Sell effectively
  • Understand customer needs better than they do
  • Drive delivery
  • Grasp complex technical challenges
  • Manage countless competing priorities
The role offers tremendous leverage through task-setting, but it comes with a cognitive load that demands exceptional self-management skills.

Mastering Self-Management

The transition to product management forced me to develop robust self-management practices. I learned two crucial lessons:
  1. Ruthless Prioritization: Sometimes you have to let things drop and trust they'll work out. Not everything that seems urgent is truly important.
  1. Mental Clarity: I discovered meditation as a crucial tool for maintaining clear thinking throughout intense days of context-switching and decision-making.

The Research Foundation

What I've come to realize is that successful product management always starts with solid research. You need to build and maintain a complex mental model incorporating:
  • Deep user understanding
  • Market dynamics
  • Strategic positioning
  • Solution architecture
My background in algorithms and complex systems became surprisingly relevant here. The ability to model and understand complex systems comes naturally to me, and it translates directly to building comprehensive product mental models.

The Communication Evolution

Communication was my biggest growth area. By nature, I preferred minimal communication and solving problems independently. However, product management demanded a different approach. I developed new habits:
  1. Front-Loading Context: I learned to initiate conversations by providing comprehensive context upfront, both verbally and in writing.
  1. Creating Shared Understanding: Establishing product north stars, clear principles, and a common team language became fundamental to effective communication.
  1. Regular Touch Points: Instead of working in isolation, I actively created opportunities for alignment and feedback.

Why Product Management Was Inevitable

Looking back, the transition to product management wasn't just a career choice; it was inevitable. It combines three of my core strengths:
  1. Research capabilities honed through academic and military experience
  1. Passion for self-improvement and embracing communication challenges as growth opportunities
  1. A genuine interest in the business impact of technology
More importantly, it satisfies my desire to solve the right problems – not just any problems. Too often in tech, we invest significant effort solving the wrong problems. Product management gives me the opportunity to ensure we're directing our technical expertise toward meaningful challenges.

The Evolution Continues

Product management isn't just a role – it's about defining, building, and selling products that matter. It's about bridging the gap between technical possibility and market need. This journey from code to product wasn't about leaving technology behind; it was about elevating its impact.
As I continue to grow in my product management role, I find myself increasingly curious about the business side of technology. The skills I've developed – from understanding market needs to bridging technical and business worlds – are broadening my perspective on how products fit into larger market dynamics and business strategies.
Reflecting on the advice about the progression from research to product to business, I can see how my journey is naturally evolving. Entrepreneurship remains an interest of mine, and I plan to build upon my product skills as I move in that direction.