How I Became a Product Manager: Krislyn McDonnell

How I Became a Product Manager is a series where I highlight the many possible paths to a role in product management.  Those looking to land your first product job can learn from the experience of others who successfully made the switch.  For hiring managers I encourage you to look for product talent elsewhere in your company by recognizing the behaviors that signal potential.  The best possible PM for your team might be down the hall working for another group. 

How Did You Get Started?

Krislyn McDonnell entered Suffolk University as a Marketing major, for a reason she finds comical today and chuckled as she told me:

“I picked Marketing because I didn’t have to take math classes and I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do.”

That’s a pretty honest answer.  Despite initially trying to avoid math, she found herself taking Information Systems and Operations classes because they sounded interesting and ended up adding that as a minor in her junior year.

“The Information Systems and Operations management classes I was taking taught me how to build a website or how important it is to have layers of defense in your security program  which aligned with what I liked, which was driving user behavior.”

As Krislyn took more classes she realized the thing she was the most interested in was the intersection of psychology, human behavior, and technology.  How can you use technology to motivate and drive user behavior?

“One particular class I took, consumer behavior, stuck with me.  I was fascinated by the little things like the fact that it’s someone’s job to go scent a hotel lobby to ensure a consistent brand experience.”

When it came time to graduate, Krislyn found a challenging job market.  She worked full-time to support herself through college, but having not done traditional internships she had difficulty finding a full time position.

Through a friend she got an interview at Robert Half Technology, a staffing and recruiting firm, initially as a tech recruiter and then was moved into sales.  After a few months in the sales position, she realized it was not for her, and began looking around for other opportunities.  Eventually she applied to a job as a Recruiting Coordinator for Carbonite.

“I ended up not getting the position, but the recruiter said I was a solid candidate and told me ‘take a position at the front desk for a few months and I’ll get you into something good.’”  

While working at the front desk, Krislyn began doing projects for several teams inside the company to get a sense for which group she may want to eventually work with.  After a few months Krislyn had established herself as an asset and several groups were trying to convince her to join their team.

“People realized I wasn’t really afraid of a challenge and I took good notes.”

Krislyn was demonstrating several of the key product manager skills during her trial assignments, specifically attention to detail.  Despite not knowing much about any of the assignments, she was not afraid to jump in, learn, and embrace the details to come up to speed quickly.  In the end, the recruiter remembered Krislyn talking about her interest in understanding user behavior, and when an associate UX Researcher position opened up, Krislyn joined the Product team.

When was the first time you heard the term “Product Manager?”

Like many people, Krislyn made it through college and into her second job after graduating before ever hearing the words “Product Management.”

“The first time I heard ‘product manager’ was when one of the PMs was presenting at a Carbonite company meeting.  After that, once I was on the UX team, I was paired up with a product manager and work day to day with them on getting the appropriate research done.”

Krislyn spent the next two years working in UX research, learning more about customers as well as what she liked and disliked about the product development process.  She didn’t know that she necessarily wanted to be a product manager someday, however she was able to gain a ton of relevant knowledge and exposure that would eventually be applicable as a product manager.  She realized that she had a natural interest in user behavior and as a result was able to develop a strong sense of customer empathy during her time in UX Research.

“I found that I really like doing discovery research and concept validation with customers.  I love bringing an idea to a customer and having them either validate it or completely change the way we were thinking about the problem.”

Carbonite at that time had a Program Management function that worked in conjunction with product management to get products released into the field.  The program team was typically more internally-focused, coordinating with internal functions to ensure product launch, delivery, and fulfillment go smoothly.  The members of the program team had a similar profile to the product managers and were able to lead across the organization.  Org changes resulted in the UX team reporting to the leader of the program team who quickly started to realize that Krislyn had some of the critical skills needed to be successful as a program manager.

“Having visibility into how teams work together, and how to get momentum behind something is not easy.  I already knew the highest priorities projects and the strategy behind them from my UX role.  Beyond that I was able to think thoroughly about complex projects.  We’re staring at point A, we need to get to Z, what are all of the steps between here and there?  Finally I think people recognized my ability to influence people without a lot of authority.  Being visible cross-functionally was the best part to me.  I loved working with every group in the company.”

Krislyn demonstrated a broad sense of ownership, and understood how her work connected to the business goals as well as the work of all of the other teams in the company.  Paired with a strong grasp of the details and a strong sense of empathy, she found that she was able to lead and influence on some high visibility projects despite being one of the most junior people in the org.

After 8 months on the program management team, one of the Product Management Directors asked Krislyn if she’d consider a product manager position that recently opened up.  

“One of my biggest doubts when taking the product manager role was needing to have confidence and make a decision when you are uncomfortable and don’t have perfect information.  When I was in program management, I could never envision myself as the person saying ‘this is what we are doing and why,’ especially in those conditions.  I hesitated a lot before I took the role but in the end I knew it would be a challenge and wanted to prove to myself I could do it.’’

Learning to how to balance confidence and humility, knowing when you need to move forward, and when to admit more information is required, is a never-ending journey for most product managers. In the end Krislyn decided to take the job and has been a product manager ever since.  She was eventually promoted to Senior Product Manager at Carbonite and then took a role at Recorded Future where she works today.    

“Overall I’m super happy to have moved into product management.  I used to be the little girl that would get the note on my report card that I was a leader, which my parents knew was  code for ‘bossy.’  I get to embody that in my role as a product manager every day.  I love being trusted to lead and be influential within the organization.”

During her time as a product manager, it’s no surprise that Krislyn has found the role to be very fulfilling, especially the connection to users and user behavior that started her down this path in college.

“It’s a super rewarding role.  Seeing a customer’s reaction to something you helped to come up with and ship is amazing.”

In terms of what she struggled with when new to the role, she was nervous about the accountability that comes with the ability to make decisions.  Most self-aware product managers respect the trust they are given, and the care that must be taken in making critical decisions.  It’s normal and OK to be a little nervous - “are they really trusting me with this?”  I want a product manager that is at least a little freaked out by big decisions.  That means they understand the ramifications and have ownership for the outcome.  However, once you get comfortable with accountability, you can use it as a way to unblock others that are hesitant to move forward, as Krislyn did:

“Initially I was nervous about being the person to blame if things go wrong.  Now I throw it around all the time -  ‘you can just blame me if it doesn’t work out, but let’s make a call and move forward.’”

What Advice Do You Have for Aspiring Product Managers?

On pursuing certifications from the Pragmatic Institute and Certified Scrum Product Owner:

“I pursued the certifications I did based on mentor recommendations and independent research. I did them to help me understand the foundations and principles of being a product owner/manager from a "textbook" stand point so I could apply my learnings to my environment and teams at work. Every certificate I've obtained I've been able to directly apply to my role - whether that be implementing scrum, to better understanding how to write a proper user story, or gaining perspective on how to balance tactical work vs strategy - every certificate has been beneficial.”

General advice for those trying to break into product management from other functions:

“Every PM book and article will tell you to say ‘no’ to things.  If you’re trying to break in you need to say yes to every opportunity you are offered.  Learn as much about the business as you can and demonstrate you have the skills necessary to do the job.”

Krislyn never considered being a product manager until she was asked to join, even when she worked within the larger product organization on two related teams.  She obviously had some strong soft skills that came out with each new role she took on, but the opportunities were only afforded to her because she took bets.  She said yes to all the random projects people threw at her without worrying about the specific career value of any of them.  Through this openness to working on whatever came her way, she got more chances to demonstrate her abilities, build trust in the organization and learn about the business.  This broad understanding strengthened her sense of ownership and ability to lead and influence which only made her a stronger candidate at each point.