Austin VOP #109 Ann Bender of Cox Automotive | Reflecting on a Career in Product
Austin Voice of Product - Inspiring the next generation of Product leaders
Austin Voice of Product
Ann was a delight to talk to - so much energy and passion for product management! I love conversations like these. She shares how the stars aligned for her career path to product, why being a product leader is dealing with discomfort and ambiguity and how COVID has made it challenging to build and engender trust on teams.
Read more: Product Management is Being Uncomfortable
What I’m Reading
I was inspired by Ken Norton’s post earlier this summer where he talked about the dual career track for product managers. It confirmed that the IC path that I am on is valid and valuable.
Ken has a new post on Bring the Donuts - Reflecting on a Career in Product Management. Two points that are spot on 💯:
The “art” of product management matters more than the “science” over the long term.
And by art he is referring to the soft skills such as empathy, storytelling, dealing with ambiguity, inspiring others.
Don’t let gaps form between you and your customers and between you and the builders.
You can’t do this job well without being close to customers and without working side by side with your engineers and designer.
Austin Product Events
December 8 — The Product League
ATX Mega Meetup: Happy Hour & Networking
More events on the Austin Product Events page.
In The Community
Elena Leonova started a new job as VP of Product at Spryker Systems. Congrats!
Austin Product Positions
I share product positions posted by product leaders I know. Feel free to reach out to me for an intro or share with others.
Amazon Kindle is hiring a Product Manager for their Kindle Book Delivery team
Sailpoint is hiring a Product Manager for their SaaS management team
data.world is looking for a Product Manager for their data catalog and governance platform
Smarter Sorting is looking for a Senior Product Manager
Yours in product,
Reza