So you are a Product Manager (PM) and after a few struggles
with your daily routine, you think it is reasonable to have some sort of
training so you can sort your priorities better or finally understand what is
it that you are accountable for. Maybe
having a certificate hanging in your cubicle will help you to find a better job
or support your decisions in a more “educated” way... These were the reasons
why I decided to enroll in specific Product Management training from a company
called Pragmatic Marketing.
I enrolled myself with plenty of time ahead since I had to
travel overseas to be trained.Turns out, on the second day of a 2 day course, I was asked to leave the training. They had discovered that I was somehow
related to an Australian PM Consultancy firm called brainmates, who also
teaches PMs How to perform a better job.
During the first day of training I was happily tweeting
about how great the experience was and shared my excitement with PM colleagues from
@brainmates and @ProdMgmtTalk. These colleagues
have helped me learn, discuss valuable knowledge, and network with several
interesting people from the PM online community around the world.
Seems like following those tweets, and after the training
company googled my name, I was accused of trying to smuggle information from
inside one training company to another. Why would I be public about my
relationship with @brainmates and @ProdMgmtTalk if I wanted to steal
information?
They argued that Intellectual Property is important and to
be respected. However, if a company is concerned about attendees at an event
getting access to insider information, shouldn’t they check customers’ backgrounds before letting them enrol, and
identify and publicly communicate their policy for preventing and/or dismissing
participation in your trainings?
I was not given a chance to express my point of view. I was accused guilty of having intentions to copy and share their material (and also
brainmates for that matters) and all I got was - “we’ll give you your money
back”, although reimbursement for the cost of my trans-continent travel (I flew
from Venezuela to Canada) and hospitality expenses was not offered.
I would have appreciated a simple apology, such as “We are
sorry that we made a mistake as we should not have let you enrol and we need to
improve our processes”. This would have
shown fundamental customer service, not to mention a demonstration of
what basic Product Management boils down to... recognizing, listening and responding to your customers problems.
Here are my suggestions if you want to learn how to be a
better Product Manager, whether you have been in the job for a while, or are
just starting out:
1. Increase your knowledge with books: There is an endless list of Book for PM, but the ones I've read and learnt from are: Tuned In, The Product Manager's Handbook , Product Portfolio Management and the Blue Ocean Strategy (these last 2 are more into innovation and New Product Development)
2. Get connected to a community of product managers by
attending product events: http://bit.ly/ndBYQA
3. Participate at the Global @ProductMgmtTalk on twitter
every Monday afternoon (4:00pm PDT) where you can network with a global
community of PMs who generously share their insights, resources and continued
challenges. http://www.prodmgmttalk.com
4. Check out the Alliance of Product Professionals http://bit.ly/pocIkE
5. Be happy about being a Product Manager, if you are true
to your customers you are making a better world already.
Have a good learning and if you want to share some knowledge follow me on twitter @vfigatelix
