Is product management training a waste of time?
Ever since being a product manager has become cool?
Maybe I am kidding myself but certainly it has become a highly desirable role – some would call it one of the hottest careers. 🙂
The number of training courses and certifications has multiplied.
There are even programs dedicated to simply cracking a PM interview!
Every month or week there is book written about some or all parts of it.
Heck, we The Prodzen offer a training and coaching program too.
(Naturally, ours is different, but that’s not what I want to talk about.) 😀
Unfortunately none of these work.
Not on their own.
Being a product manager requires experiential learning.
It’s not something you can learn from a book, from an online course or even from getting a certificate.
It’s simple. You have to do the hard work.
There are no shortcuts.
You have to go through the grind.
It’s like learning to walk.
You probably don’t remember how you learnt to walk.
But, you may have seen a child learn to walk.
Children fall a hundred times, maybe more.
They just keep at it, learning to do it better each time.
Trying different ways to get up, different ways to move their weight.
Until they take a few unassisted steps.
Then the sheer joy of being able to walk takes over.
Walking turns to running and more…
That’s the way becoming a product manager can be.
You can learn the different concepts.
Then you must apply those.
See what works, what doesn’t.
Your own situation, product, company is unique.
Adapt what you learnt to that.
Learn regularly.
Solve problems continuously.
All the best.
Work towards becoming a good PM.
If you are good, work to become great.
If you are great, build something bigger then every before…