Bootstrapping Your Professional Development as a Product Manager

As a product management professional, I'm always on the look-out for new ways to increase my world dominance skill set.

But, let's be honest, there is really not a lot of options out there for training on product management / marketing, outside of the fine folks at Pragmatic Marketing. Especially options that are FREE!!

So if you are like me and looking for a way to bootstrap your professional development, then here are a few tips.

• Participate in or start a ProductCamp in your area. A community-organized volunteer led unconference, ProductCamp is a great opportunity for information sharing, learning and networking.
• Join specialized groups that intersect with how you bring your product to market - even if it isn't in your area of responsibility. For example, my company's product is software, so the development of that software, even though not my 'job', is very much critical to the success of my products. So I joined AgileAustin to learn more about that methodology and how those philosophies can be extended into areas outside of 'development'.
• Find industry events that are free or low-cost to attend. Some conferences also now offer lower-cost or free virtual attendance with much of the same content you would get in person -- like PIPELINE 2010.
• Forums, online communities and groups are a great way to engage with others in our profession for advice, direction and tips on how to succeed. I've never met a product marketing or management pro who wouldn't willingly share their advice if you ask. Check out LinkedIn, Facebook, and Yahoo! Groups to start.
• Twitter! Add a gadget to your Google desktop and follow search #prodmgmt. Great blog posts, tweets and articles will start flowing your way in a matter of minutes.
• Search the web for great blogs on Product Management and setup an RSS feed for the latest and greatest content to come directly to you, so you never miss a post. Check out my blog roll for a few good ones to get you started. :-D

So even if you are stuck at a job with no growth or challenge you can challenge yourself with a litany of great information and resources. OK you won't earn any PDU's, but who really does anything with those nowadays anyway?