Professional Development During the Pandemic: Fact or Fiction?

The pandemic has hyper-ushered in new working norms. Many of us are now working from home full time. Weekly 1:1s with our manager have become Zoom calls, primarily focused on the most urgent items for that day. Or afternoon. Or hour. Is now really the right time to be leveling up your product skills? Without a doubt, yes.

For me, it always felt like there was never enough time in the day to focus beyond work, family, friends, etc. before the pandemic. Any window of potential free time was filled with commuting, face to face lunches, IRL standups and sprint planning. But now, many product managers are finding a silver lining in the days of Covid- there’s actually MORE opportunity to pursue professional development.

CPOs and SVPs have reached out to us at Produx Labs, looking for developmental opportunities for their teams during this time at home. One leader commented that they were looking to give their PMs a break on the day-to-day challenges of working remotely during stressful times, allowing people to take time for their own professional development. Some PMs have joined our remote half-day Product Operations workshops, while other organizations have arranged private, tailored workshops for their teams. My time has been focused on sharing product operations knowledge- I hope to find some time this fall to brush up my on-camera skills for video.

Product leaders are using this unexpected gift of time to develop their own skills, too. Lauren McCarthy, Director of Product Management at Diligent, talked to me about how she has been leveling up her strategy game. She said that one upside of working from home was that she now has a bit more time for self-development. This summer she took ProductTalk’s remote course, Defining Outcomes: translating business outcomes into product outcomes you can deliver. “I hope to sign up my direct reports in the fall for the same course,” McCarthy says.

Ashley Baldwin, the Director of Product at Teachable, an online platform that allows individuals to create and sell how-to classes and coaching, is finding more time on her hands thanks to her new commute time of zero minutes. She’s taking advantage of the time she would have spent biking over the Manhattan Bridge to the Teachable office in Silicon Alley to pursue her interest in IDEO’s “Storytelling for Influence” course. “I did seek out IDEO after COVID,” Baldwin says, “Since I figured this year is going to be the time I get better at presenting and storytelling, hopefully for next year’s set of product conferences.” She is planning to take advantage of remote PD for her team as well. “With being remote, we wanted to have a self-guided curriculum to supplement what we were learning within the pod that could allow for deeper learning, Baldwin says. “Product Institute will be the start of our Associate PM program so we can ramp them up quickly, while also tying in real-life product development to hit home.”

Now is the time to use your PD budget or advocate for dollars for your development. There is no shortage of great product workshops, classes, and virtual conferences this fall. Here are a few noteworthy ones to check out (all virtual, of course):

Pendo’s Pendomonium
Sept 16-17
Whether or not you use their product, Pendo always offers useful workshops around product engagement (SaaS and non-SaaS), best practices, and more. The first day is free.

Industry Virtual Conference
September 23-24
A powerhouse gathering of who’s who in the product world, including Gibson Biddle and my esteemed Produx Labs colleague Tami Reiss. Includes 10+ hours of keynotes, 25 sessions, interactive Q&As, and 1:1 networking.

IDEO U
Offers a number of communication skills courses, including storytelling for influence and impactful presentations.

Produx Labs Remote Workshops
Product expert (and my boss) Melissa Perri started offering remote workshops centered around her popular book, “Escaping the Build Trap.” Limited to 20 attendees, the workshops offer an opportunity to delve more deeply into product operations, product strategy and network with other like-minded product folks.

Product Tank Meetups
Find a local meetup of product folks to connect with, as well as talks from guest speakers from various companies, organizations and industries.

Product Institute
Produx Labs’ online school for product managers is a good option if you’re looking for something that allows for self-paced, continuous learning. You can subscribe annually and access a full curriculum of product management courses, available whenever you have 10-15 minutes to watch a lesson video.