Our numbers are growing, but what is the role, and what value does it add?
When I first took up the role of ‘Head of Product Management’ back in October 2016, I was one of the first in Government to have the title, and within a few months there was a very small band of 5 of us, who were responsible for looking after the Product Management professionals within our own Government Departments. We were professional leaders, tasked with building capability and skills, and building communities of practice. The original job description we created for a Head of Product was very different to what I do now.
In my first 12 months of the role I focused on the people, working with the others across government to develop a capability framework, training and development plan and a career pathway that Product Managers could use to develop a proper career as a Product Manager within Government.
A lot of our time was spent debating the skills Product Managers needed, and what value Product Managers brought to Projects and teams. It was, upon reflection, a very inward focused role; which given the maturity of the profession at that time made sense. But several years later user needs have changed and I think it’s a good time to reflect on the value we Heads of Product now find ourselves adding within our work, and making sure everyone understands the work some of us are now doing and why. To discuss what that difference is between what we were doing and what we are doing now, and does everyone understand and agree that difference.
This change in the dichotomy of the Head of Product role came up at our last Head of Product catch up, for those of us in role a few years ago, we have all separately found that our focus isn’t purely on developing that community and the professional skills and capabilities of Product Managers anymore.
Instead we are now focussing on Product strategies, on aiding Prioritisation of portfolios, of working with Senior leaders to break problems down, understanding the value we are trying to gain, or the outcomes we are trying to achieve through the Products and Services we are developing. We’re running roadmap workshops across directorates, debating Targeting Operating Models and strategic alignment.
Most departments are now hiring ‘Head’s of Product’ or ‘Deputy Directors of Product’ to be part of their Senior Leadership teams within Digital, and personally I think that is the right move.
As organisations mature in their agile ways of working, the role of prioritisation has become ever more important, and as Product Management professionals, the ability to weigh up data and evidence to make decisions about priorities is our bread and butter. As organisational budgets continue to be constrained we all need to get better at focusing on outputs and understanding the value we are looking to deliver through our projects and programmes, ensuring we are meeting user needs whilst spending public money wisely. Determining priorities and ensuring we are delivering value for users are the fundamental objectives of the Product Manger role, and as such it makes sense to utilise those skills at an organisational level.
We are, in fact, much closer to our counterparts in the private sector determining Returns on Investment etc. than we have ever been before. Yes, we as Head’s of Product still work with Product Managers and teams to help them ensure they are meeting the standards and delivering value, and we still look at the resource demands of teams and make calls on which person within our professional community might be best placed to work on with Product; and in some departments the community is so big that actually they still need someone to focus onleading that; but for the most part, our communities and our people have grown along with us, and most don’t need the level of support from us as community managers that they did before.
Most of the communities now across government are self-sustaining, events like #ProductPeople are being set up and run by members of the community; and while we as Heads of Product are still here to help champion Product Management, and to support the people in our communities, the role of the Head of Product Management as a community lead, has adapted and gown into what our organisations need now, someone who can use those Product Management skills at an organisational level.
As such, I think it’s time we look at the Digital Data and Technology capability framework again for Product Management, talk to community, and review the job description for the Head of Product role we initially developed and iterate that. We need to understand the role of the community lead and the need for that, whilst also recognising the value of Product Management and the skills Head’s of Product can bring to our senior leadership and our organisations.