10 things I’ve learned about being a Product Manger

I’ve been a product manager at NHS UK (the NHS website) for 18 months and before that I did various product-type roles in an NHS trust.

I volunteered to do a lightning talk about what I’ve learned about the role of a product manager at a product community event at NHS Digital. I thought I’d put these reflections out in the world and see if my fellow product managers want to nod along in solidarity or perhaps share their own perspectives?

The presentation was illustrated with photos from my phone taken while I’ve worked in product roles. I’ve shared a few here.

1. There’s no recipe for a great product manager

Product managers come from a wide variety of different backgrounds and there is no single route to becoming one. There is no one training course that will teach you all you need to know, no single book that will give you all the answers, no magic framework to solve all your problems. I spent quite a bit of time thinking that if I could just do that GDS course, or become an actual scrum master THEN I could be a proper product manager.

But the fear of not knowing enough, not being good enough, can mean you fail to realise that it’s your experiences that are actually your greatest asset. Training is always valuable and we never stop learning. But I now accept that I’m probably doing fine, just as I am.

2. You are not the boss

A product manager isn’t a manager, in the traditional sense. You might have some line management responsibilities for other product people, but your focus is always on the product.

However, your team might see you in a manager-type role so it’s important to strike a balance between being helpful and supportive when the team need it and recognising when something is just going to be handled much, much better by a delivery manager.

3. Sometimes product is a lonely place to be

As explained in point 2, you’re not the boss. But sometimes the responsibility for fixing problems, avoiding failures and taking hard decisions do sit on your shoulders.

You might conclude you’ve been building the wrong thing and need to stop. Or decide to leave something on the backlog that someone else feels is really important. In a multidisciplinary team it’s usually the product manager who needs to explain to senior management why a decision was taken, you’ll be explaining to stakeholders why something has failed.

The team might not always see these things. Some might even wonder what it is that you actually do.

I’ve learned that while I need to protect the team from being exposed to too many difficult stakeholder or strategy conversations so they can focus on the work in the sprint, you can’t really empower a team if they’re not involved in those decisions somehow or if they don’t have an understanding of the bigger picture.

Just another thing that a PM has to master!

4. Product managers don’t do very much

Yes we’re all very, very busy. But if things are going well and you have the right team, you won’t be doing much of the doing.

This takes a bit of getting used to, especially if you’ve worked in a really small team or one that is missing some of the key skills. It’s quite useful to have a background experience of writing some content, maybe to have done some basic user research yourself or perhaps knocked up a prototype in XD.

It definitely felt weird at first that I didn’t have all the logins for all the CMS environments for my all products. But I have learned to let go of that stuff, know how much better it is to have real specialists in those areas to do the work and be glad I have the time and space to focus on strategy, planning, and creating an environment where the team can do great things.

5. It’s good to have questions

I’ve often felt conscious of my propensity to ask questions, feeling like I’m bothering people or asking too many. I have been told before that I have a tendancy to be ‘too focussed on details’.

But I think curiosity is an essential skill for a product manager. And a leader. You should be asking why things are done this way, be interested in how people and products work.

No one likes that person who asks questions for the sake of it, just feeling like they need to say something in a meeting. I’m advocating for the value of being thoughtful, inquisitive and when you need to, be gently and constructively challenging with the goal to help making things better.

6. You can stop bad things from happening

My completely non-scientific estimate of how the job of a product manager is broken down goes something like this: 30% of your time will be spent building great things and 70% will be spent on holding back the tide of bad ideas.

It’s important that you do this, even if it means things get difficult and maybe a little heated sometimes.

No-one is going to champion your product like you can, fight to keep it user centred, accessible, inclusive, to ask the awkward questions.

You do need to know where the boundaries are; how much pushing back is too much pushing back, where you can safely flex and find a compromise. But you’re the chief cheerleader of the good work and defender against the bad and even if no-one thanks you for it, you’ll almost always be glad you spoke up.

7. Use your powers for good

As a product manager you’ll have the chance to influence decisions taken at many different levels; within your own team, in other areas of your organisation and even further afield.

You will be in the room where decisions are made and if you speak, there’s a chance that people will listen. This means you are in a position of privilege and have a responsibility to use that for good.

You can help shape the culture of your team, influence hiring decisions, maybe just reduce the load time of a page to improve your carbon footprint. There are lots of small and big ways a product manager can help make the world a better place!

8. Don’t give up your side hustle

I’ve worked in the NHS for a long time, feel passionate about improving the digital products and services we provide for patients and occaisionally I take these battles online — to Twitter and on here.

I think this is OK (at least I haven’t been told otherwise). Taking on the principle of being open has helped me make connections outside of the organisation I work in, promote things I feel strongly about and give me access to information about things happening across the wider health system that I would not otherwise easily learn about.

It’s good to keep learning, broadening your horizons, sharing your thoughts and ideas. You never know when these new connections and insights will come in handy.

9. You can find interest in the most unlikely of places

I’ve often been surprised about the things that will spark my interest. I’ve worked on some things that sound really dry; documentation workflow, Sharepoint integrations, prescribing medicines administration, compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

But I’ve loved working on all these things! If you’re interested in improving the health service then there’s plenty to get stuck into and there are clinical safety, patient experience, human interest angles to all of it.

There are definitely products I’m more interested in than others and I’ve absolutely had roles I’ve not really enjoyed. But the cause of that has usually been about people, culture, process rather than the product and it’s potential to be interesting.

10. Multidisciplinary teams are the best

Every product manager knows that the most efficient and effective unit of delivery is the multidisciplinary team. Clinical teams have been working like this for many years and have proven that bringing together the expertise and skills of different professions to assess, plan and manage care leads to better health outcomes and a better working experience for staff.

But finding MDTs who work on digital products in the NHS is less common and to work in one feels like a real privilege.

I absolutely love working in an agile team where we’re empowered to make our own decisions (no committees!), where there is no hierarchy, where you can agree your goals and just get on with it.

This way of working really shouldn’t be rare in digital delivery in the NHS and I will continue to advocate and evangelise about it to anyone who will listen.