Who are those product owners? And from where are they coming from? Can I be a product owner? What should I do? Those and other questions would be answered in this presentation. Product management still hasn't any formal career path, therefore product managers are coming from all around. Interested in finding and solving market problems? Learn how can you become a product owner.

1. Warsaw, May 12
How do I tell my boss I
want to be a PO?
Daniil Lanovyi

3. This story starts with me sitting in the plane that just about to
land in Dublin. My hands are shaking a bit. Not because I am
afraid to fly but because it's my first product management
assignment. And I don't even have this title yet. By the papers I
am still a quality assurance engineer. Only yesterday I was
writing my test cases and performing old good regression testing.
But tomorrow I will be doing product management job. I will meet
customers, will need to understand their needs, get to the roots
of their problems. And I will come back with a product strategy.
5 years and 10+ of products later I can tell you - it was worth
it. Despite all the pain and frustration this craft gives me on a
daily basis, I still like this job. And if you want to follow the
product management path, I have few tips for you today.

4. There is no official career path for product owners. We all came
from different backgrounds, experience levels and industries.
Technology, marketing, sales, customer support, accounting? PMs
are coming from everywhere. Have a look on a couple of
examples from where people switch to product management.

5. "I started out on a career as an electrical
engineer"
"PM was my first role in tech - before that I
spent a year as a maths teacher!"
"I was a music journalist and editor for 10
years"

6. "I was a landscape gardener, then became a
video games journo, then got headhunted to
deliver Nintendo’s European mothership.
Obviously."
"I was an army officer, biologist and scuba
diver. Perfect qualifications for PM work."
"Space engineer/orbital dynamicist after
studying mech/space degree then did a stint
in the Army as a combat engineer"

7. Everyone can be a
product owner?

8. Anybody can become a product owner? Quick answer: yes. If you
want to be a product owner, regardless of what you currently do
- you have a chance. I'll give you 8 practical tips today to set
yourself in the position to get a PO job.

9. PM rule #5 : your building full of product
experts. Your company needs market experts.
Hunt for Market
Problems

10. PM rule #5 : the building full of product experts. Your company
needs market experts.
Product experts? You know them. Those are the folks who always
know best how something should work, look and perform. But when
you ask them why should it work, look, perform… it turns out
that most of the stuff they know are their opinions. And we all
have opinions. You need market knowledge!
Start collecting as much market information as possible. You need
to become an expert on the market you're in. Talk with your
company customers and users! Talk with any people who have
similar problem. Read everything possible about your market.
Study carefully all your competitors. Buy customer support guy a
beer and ask him to send you customer feedback. Follow your
industry on social media.
Be on a constant hunt for market problems!

11. Become"this-guy-
knows-it-all"
ofyourproduct

12. As been said above: building is full of product experts. But you
should be the best of them. Use your company product! Study
how it works, why it works. Study the data. How your customers
use it. How your users use it. Study the business your company
is in. Why it works? Why people buy? How do we sell? You need
to know all critical user flows, all major customer experience
journeys, have an idea about the technology it's all running on.
Not each and every detail is important but
When somebody has a question about the product - they go to
you.

13. Think strategic

14. Where do you see your product in 5 years? Why should it be
there? Why shouldn't it be somewhere else? How is your market
going to change? Is it going to be disrupted? Try to spot some
trends. Feel where the wind is blowing. What unexpected
competition might arise? How can you differentiate? What unique
values can you serve? Product strategy and vision is the why you
come to work every day!
Try to validate your strategy. Find some data, examples from
different industries, business cases from similar companies to at
least theoretically prove your point.
Try to communicate the strategy back to the company. First
unofficially. At lunch or near the coffees machine. Your target is
to be a recognized strategic thinker of your product.

15. LearntoLeadand
Inspire

16. Before you become product owner you can't tell others what they
should do? When you do become a product owner ... well, you
still cannot do it. PO is a "servant leader" role. Your team does
not report to you. Sales does not report to you. Marketing does
not report to you. Yet you need them all to deliver a successful
product. How? By inspiring people to do a great job. Inspiration is
hard, it's not just few positive reinforcement words. It's not a
motivational placate. It's not "we can do it!". It's a daily exercise
in setting an example, showing people a role model.

17. Build relationships

18. You know what word is the most frequent in a PO's vocabulary?
That's the word: "no". Yes, you need to tell no quite a lot. A PO
role is a negotiator role. A jogger role. So many people have
opinions. All believe their opinion is the "righest"! And you need to
tell them "no". But if you want to be successful as a PO, you
need to say no in a way that leaves people if not happy, then at
least not angry at you. And here personal relationships help. Even
before you become a PO. Start building them. Start from basics.
Remember your colleague names. Talk at the coffee machine.
Care to know their hobby or what they're passionate about. Help
people. Go to after work "one beer"s. Have a genuine interest in
them and it will come back to you when you'll need their help.
Or when you'll need to say no to them for the good of your
product.
When I ask experienced product managers what advice they would
give themselves in the early days of their careers, most answer :
I wish I'd understand the importance of relationship building.

19. Lookforamentor

20. When you want to become a PO - you learn from somebody who
is already a PO. Learn from somebody who you want to be like
professionally. What do they do? How they behave? Why they do
it this way? Offer those people your help. Maybe they have some
small tasks they can delegate to you? Or they might invite you
to a meeting to listen and take notes? Or they might show you
their draft and ask for your opinion? Anything that would help
you learn. And then if you're lucky you could find a mentor.
Which would be your jackpot as you'd learn more than by any
other method.

21. Learnhowtomanage
products,notonlyhowyour
companydoesit

22. And then we come to a product management itself.
Lots of companies, specially in central Europe, don't understand
product management. That just a fact. This result is a very
"creative" definitions of the role. And very, very unexpected
expectations those companies have regarding fresh POs. If you
find yourself in this situation, I encourage you to always learn
and remember how product management should really be like!
Even if you're somehow forced to adapt to your company
definition.

23. Say "I want this job"

24. It sounds kind of an obvious, but very often it's the main reason
why somebody didn't get a job he or she wanted. Don't be afraid
to say it out loud. Don't be afraid to apply when vacancy
appears. So many people missed the opportunity simply because
their bosses didn't even knew they were interested in the PO role.
And then it's important how you say it. If you're a developer,
tester, designer, marketeer, sales guy... Company already knows
what you can do. Develop, test, design, promote, sale... Instead,
you need to show what you can do as a PO. Make sure to
showcase all the work you've done regarding a product (even if
only theoretical) and your approach for the future.

25. Huntformarketproblems
Know your product
Think strategic

26. Lead and Inspire
Build relationships
Find a mentor

27. Learn
product
management
Say "I want
this job!"

28. Still want to be a
Product owner?

29. Knowing what you know now do you still want to tell your boss
you want to be a PO? It's not an easy job, it's damn hard job if
you want to make it right.
Would you have responsibilities? Sure. You would. Would you have
decision power? You might, eventually, some day. Would you have
ambitious challenges? Sure you would. Would you have enough
resources to make it? Almost never. Do you want power within
your organization? That's next door. Do you want to lead cross
functional teams without formal authority? Do you want to
navigate internal politics just to make something done? Do you
want to talk a lot, to go to constant meetings and wonder where
your days are going? Do you want to put more than a 100% of
your effort into a product knowing that all the glory will go to
somebody else? If that's what you want - welcome to the product
management.

30. And if I haven't scared you off completely and you still want to
be a product owner - I'll give you three reasons to still consider
this craft:

31. Possibilitytomakea
difference

32. How silly it may sounds after what I've told you so far, but PO is
still the main responsible for a product success. If not authority
wise, but practice wise you're making the difference ... or you can
... if you dare.

33. Solve problems
and improve life

34. Product owners are driven by problems. We see them and want to
solve them! Because we can! And when we do eventually ... it
feels good.

35. Every day is different

36. If you don't like routine - welcome to product management. Here
every day means new problems :) and new solutions. And
therefore - it's very rarely a boring job.

37. https://pl.linkedin.com/in/daniill
Now I know how I tell my
boss I want to be a PO!
Daniil Lanovyi
slash.dll@gmail.com
www.test-n-tell.com