What Being A Tech Support Agent Taught Me About Product Management

Preface: I held more than a dozen positions in my 24 years of working at Adobe, starting from an entry-level Technical Support, all the way to leading product integration for multi-billion dollar acquisitions. In this series, I will explore how each role helped inform my approach to product management.

The last time someone outside of the tech sector was interested in hearing about my job was when I worked in technical support. It was relatable, as everyone has had to utilize it at some point in their lives. The stories I had to tell were about people more than technology, and often were funny or dramatic or strange. What I did not know at the time, being a bright-eyed and largely clueless 21-year-old college grad, was that the lessons I was learning were the perfect foundation for building a career in product management.

Lesson 1: Fake it ’til you make it

I may be violating some sort of product management oath here, but the truth is your product leader does not always know what they are doing. In fact, a good way to identify a seasoned product leader from a new product leader is the degree to which they are comfortable acknowledging the unknowns and bets versus the baked product priorities and strategy.

I learned how to create the illusion of confidence within the first few hours of answering tech support calls.

I graduated college with degrees in Print Journalism and Psychology. I got hired at Adobe, in part, due to the high school newspaper class I took where I used Quark XPress and was able to answer some phone screen calls about PageMaker. I knew almost nothing about the product or desktop publishing.

Adobe provided a week (maybe two?) of training where we listened to trainers walk us through various parts of the product and the print industry. We also listened in on a few calls, and learned about how to work the homegrown case management system. Mostly, it just reinforced how little I knew.

When it came time to take my first call, it felt fraudulent. Just figuring out how to pick up the line and get my headset to work was an accomplishment. I literally had my introduction printed out on my desk so I could remember what to say at the…