I joined Microsoft out of college as a PM in the Office org. I've been working for a little over 2 years and received stellar reviews every year. However, I grow unhappier and less motivated everyday. Some key causes are: 1.) Decisions are top-down and any attempt at "innovation" if shutdown due to fear of failure. 2.) Many of our design decisions are justified by "well, this is how Google does it for feature X." 3.) I don't feel like I'm making the best decisions for our customers, but the decisions that will make management happy. I studied computer science in undergrad and had multiple dev internships at top companies, so sometimes I wonder whether I should just go back to being a dev... but when I made the decision to switch roles, I truly believed the PM role was the best fit for me and where I wanted to grow in my career. I want to have hope that there are better options out there and that I'm just feeling jaded by my experiences. Any PMs out there who have had more positive experiences? What company do you work for and are you hiring?
Go to IPG under david Ku. Greatest org
What's IPG?
The definition of success for product management can very so much from organization to organization. I'd get out of your group, and maybe msft, but not PM.
Lol
Sounds like you have the beginnings of what you want to look for with your causes noted above: basically you need to look for an agile organization where decisions can be made from the bottom up; where innovation and failure is embraced as learning; where design is dictated by uniqueness vs copycat and usability testing; and where consumer needs are put first
Are there companies that fit this description in the Seattle area?
I’m having the exact feelings articulated by OP. My background is as a dev in Agile environments and transitioned to PM about 2 years back. There doesn’t seem to be anything like that in my team and my day job seems to be sustaining in the chaos. I would also be interested in references to any other teams at msft or other companies where there is more scope and support to grow as a PM.
Get out of office. It’s the most stale and backwards org at the company. While you’ll see some similarities, it will feel like a totally different company (other than maybe WDG)
You're going to be stuck with the same dysfunction anywhere at Microsoft, unfortunately. The PM discipline there needs a drastic overhaul doesn't align to what an industry product manager does. Search Blind for other threads discussing this if you're interested. If you're a solid candidate, interview elsewhere and get out! Microsoft is the worst of the big 5 companies for product work. Arguably, the product discipline doesn't even exist there (officially, it doesn't) and decisions aren't made with the customer in mind. Most PMs at MS are some combination of biz ops, project management and technical writers. Leave soon before you get stuck with bad habits.