From Hands-On to Hands-Off - follow up story
When It Is Time to Leave Your Product Team
What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are for premium subscribers to Product Management IRL.
This week’s backstory is my humbling experience leaving my product team:
What Prompted this Article?
I grew up in product management, believing every product needs a product manager. It was unbelievable to realize that my product team didn’t need a product manager.
It was complicated to get this product team started. After several months, I got an investment in the product. Then a soft launch and the first few customers.
After the first customers, it was time to move out of incubation and into the annual operating plan. The run the business team took over. There was no need for a dedicated product manager anymore.
I went from product manager of a diverse product team to zero meetings, and zero email in 2 days.
It took me nearly 3 months to reflect on transitioning out of the product team to write this article. After many chats with AI, I realiz…