Product Management Question Corner: Emily Kubec, Ebay
Posted by Ivan Chalif in Best Practices, Interviews, Professional DevelopmentToday’s episode of the PMQC includes responses from Emily Kubec. Emily is a product manager at eBay (UK) Ltd.
Q: How did you come into the role of Product Manager and was it planned?
A: A team I managed at Digital Impact were heavy users of an in-house application that had started to accumulate largely any function in the company that required a UI. We needed to rationalise what was in the original product and break off inappropriate tasks into a new one. My manager at the time had the foresight to move me from being the most vocal advocate for user needs to being the product manager for that tool. From there, my role grew to cover more, and more externally-facing, products.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you have experienced as a Product Manager and how did you overcome them?
A: An ongoing challenge is managing the balance between global input and rapid progress. The fastest way for us to get something to market may be for a small American team to propose a single, simple design, but that approach fails as soon as the solution must be adapted for international markets. A large part of my role, then, is less leading development directly and more influencing teams to build a global solution that’s flexible in the right places. Often this means partnering with colleagues in other international offices to make our case stronger. Even more effective is sitting with the US team while the solution is defined, but given the relative scale of our local office, we need to choose carefully which projects warrant that much attention.
Q: What was your worst Product Management mistake and how did you recover?
A: The most dangerous habit I had early on was designing in isolation without developers’ input, largely in an attempt to save time. While I still trust my instincts, it’s proven crucial to have early feedback from an expert who might identify a faster or more elegant way to solve the problem. Keeping that dialogue open is not only better for the product; it’s better for job satisfaction since it’s a rare developer who pictures himself purely as a code monkey and not as a problem solver. Perhaps most importantly, when time pressure is a factor, early engagement builds a level of investment that is indispensable while deadlines loom and resources are stretched.
Q: If someone told you that they wanted to be a Product Manager, what would you tell them?
A: I’d ask them what they really mean by Product Management. There are so many dimensions to what we do, so many continuums on which to define our role. Product Management can differ by company, by office, by product line, by project. I’m happiest when I’m more owner than influencer, and more technical than marketing, but many of my colleagues would disagree. A successful Product Manager must be prepared to wear many hats—and hope that most of those hats fit most of the time.
Q: If you could be the Product Manager for any product, what would it be and what would be the first thing you would do?
A: Social networking is clearly hot right now, and many companies are taking a stab, mostly unsuccessfully, at monetising it. SocialMedia Networks founder Seth Goldstein was quoted in MIT’s alumni magazine (Technology Review, July/August [NOTE: requires free registration], “Social Networking Is Not a Business”) as saying that the space to monetise is not alongside content on social sites; it’s “between users”. I believe that, and I would love to work on whatever product really solves that problem seamlessly. On perhaps a more practical note, the DVR interfaces here in the UK are not great, and it’s not clear to me why they can’t be as good as the ones in America. I’d love to work on Sky Plus at least long enough to get it to parity with the TiVo I left behind.
—————-
And now for Emily’s question for The Productologist:
Q: As companies grow and careers advance, Product Managers often begin managing other Product Managers. Is it possible to sustain a balance between being a good people manager and staying involved with a product, or must one of them become dominant over time?
A: Career growth is not commonly considered a problem, but in Product Management and other fields, there is a point where the individual has to choose whether they want to remain an individual contributor, with their hands deep in the day-to-day tasks or a manager, where they can assume a role of greater responsibility, but sacrifice the being involved in the details of the product.
To be sure, there are draws to being a manager:
- Perceived as having greater experience, both inside and outside of the company
- Higher visibility within the company
- Usually has a higher pay grade
- Comes with direct reports
- Appears to be more strategic
But there are also some drawbacks:
- Requires delegation rather than execution
- Requires navigating corporate politics
- More administrative than most people realize
But just because you are a star Product Management individual contributor, there is no guarantee that you will be a star Product Management people manager. The skills necessary to be successful in each role are different and people management is not for everyone. It is possible to transition from individual contributor to people manager, but part of making that transition is letting go of the deep involvement in the product that star Product Managers love.
It is possible to balance the between pure Product Management and Product Management management, but it’s not likely to serve you well in making the transition to management. You’ll be happier (and more successful) if you think of being a Product Manager and managing Product Managers as completely separate jobs.
A little more about Emily:
Emily is a Product Manager at eBay (UK) Ltd, which she joined following her move to London from eBay headquarters in 2005. Now in her fifth year with the company, she is currently a part of the Finding team (search engine logic and results set navigation) but in the past has looked after other areas from mobile applications to fraud detection. Prior to eBay, she spent five years at Digital Impact (now Acxiom Digital) in San Mateo, Calif., in Product Management and Quality Assurance.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Entries (RSS)