General Manager Skill Building - Follow Up Story

Build Like a Product Manager, Think Like a General Manager

What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are exclusive to premium subscribers of Product Management IRL.

This week’s backstory is about growing general manager skills as a product manager:

Build Like a Product Manager, Think Like a General Manager

What Prompted This Article?

I wrote this after a minor reorganization that led to me building my product on top of other existing products. I was facing maximum “influence without authority” as an IC (individual contributor) product manager.

It was an “in place” promotion - more responsibility and no title change. It also meant I was depending on products from 8 other product managers.

The closest example to my situation is a general manager. A general manager needs to get things done through others with influence and positional power.

After researching the typical blind spots of a general manager, I have blind spots when it comes to leading peers and their associated product teams. I figured other product managers have the same problem.

The purpose of this article was to find signals that I’m hitting a blind spot and discuss tools to work through blind spots. The 4 focus areas for general manager skills are:

1. Strategy: working through the organization and building relationships

2. Operations: understanding team structures and product context

3. Customers: decision impacts on the customers’ environment

4. Organizational dynamics: learning team charters and incentives

Many new things for an IC product manager to learn!

What Happened After This Article?