With the expanse of its core duties, scope of interfacing required and customer-centric mind frame demanded, product management involves a host of strengths.
And, as Mary Anne Silverman of CrunchTime shows, the route to becoming a product manager can include a variety of stops at different roles along the way, particularly when those positions bring about skills that ultimately bequeath success as a PM.
Through various jobs — product specialist, customer success manager and business analyst among them — Silverman has cultivated expertise over the company’s product and gained deep experience engaging with customers that’s key to her current role as a PM at the restaurant software company, where she focuses on cruise line customers.
Some of Silverman’s tips for aspiring product leaders? Soak up as much knowledge about the product, have a user-focused mindset and be malleable while focusing on the big picture.
“Your day-to-day work may require you to constantly solve problems, and respond and adapt to change,” Silverman said. “It can be hard to see beyond imminent deadlines, but keep your long-term product goals in mind — and be ready to change them.”
Below, Silverman unpacked her arc to becoming a product manager and her advice for those looking to lead.
Give us a brief idea of your career trajectory at your current company. Where did you start, when did you get promoted into a leadership role and what did you do to get there?
In my role as product manager, I lead a team that designs and delivers features that help our customers in the cruise industry maximize their efficiency from sourcing and supply chain all the way through restaurant and bar operations and inventory management on ships.
My path to product manager started in 2009 when I joined CrunchTime as a product specialist. I worked on customer implementations and support, learning as much as I could along the way about our product and how our customers use it. I took more ownership of the customer experience when I was promoted to customer success manager. Through my work on a series of major upgrade projects with customers, I gained a lot of technical experience about how our software is built, installed and integrated with other solutions.
There was an opportunity to join the business analysis team, so I made the move from customer experience to product development. I spent five years as a business analyst, really digging in and deepening my knowledge of every aspect of our product. When CrunchTime expanded the product development team and created roles for product managers, I felt well-prepared and ready to lead the team.
Be curious and put in the time and effort required to dig in and learn everything you can about your product.”
What surprised you most about your new leadership role?
The most surprising thing about this role is how much it has changed since I started. Initially, I took a very tactical approach: The team was focused on modernizing the user interface and unlocking a set of features that were previously unavailable to our user community. That project had a clear end point; beyond that, I was looking forward to working with our customers and internal stakeholders on some bigger strategic initiatives.
I was really excited about the product roadmap at the beginning of 2020. But everything changed almost overnight with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been devastating for the cruise industry. We had to reevaluate our priorities, adjust timelines and figure out how to keep the product moving forward while also supporting our customers through months of uncertainty. Now that our customers are resuming operations, I remain focused on their immediate needs — with particular regard to the ongoing challenges in the supply chain — but I am also reimagining the product roadmap all over again as the cruise industry continues to recover.
What advice do you have for product professionals looking to move into leadership roles?
Be curious and put in the time and effort required to dig in and learn everything you can about your product. Think about all the ways in which users interact with the product so that you can deliver the best possible user experience along with great features.
Also, when in doubt, go back to the customer and ask. Keep engaging with your user community, stay informed about what’s happening in the industry and market, and listen to your team members and internal stakeholders to ensure that your product vision is aligned.
