There are 11 online communities that product managers should join.
There are some things that product managers must just learn through experience. Before you schedule that meeting and explain your product strategy to your executive team, for instance, you won’t truly understand how it feels.
But that doesn’t mean you’re a product manager working alone. You don’t have to have firsthand knowledge of every tactic, difficulty, and trap in the industry. It turns out that there are many excellent product management groups online, and these communities are full of product managers ready to impart their expertise, experience, and encouragement to you.
Being a part of the correct product management groups has a lot of advantages, including:
-People who are using the best practises for product management can teach you about them.
-It’s a fantastic chance to network and discuss business with other product managers.
-Maybe one of these communities will help you land your next PM position.
Here are a few product management communities you ought to join right now, in our opinion. Additionally, to increase your opportunities for learning and professional growth, make sure to look through our comprehensive guide of product professionals’ resources.
- The Product Stack
How it works:
The Product Stack is an alliance of like-minded companies that provides useful solutions for contemporary software teams (full disclosure: ProductPlan is one of them).
What to anticipate from joining:
Members receive a host of advantageous perks, including as access to webinars, guidance, and engaging discussions about product management through our Slack channel.
Because this is a SaaS-focused PM group, the majority of the content tends to be software-focused even if many of the debates and suggestions made will apply broadly to other industries.
- Product School
How it works:
A tech business school called Product School offers a broad curriculum for the upcoming generation of product management experts. Product School offers classes in product management, product leadership, data analytics, digital marketing, UX design, and coding. It has 20 campuses worldwide and an even larger online community.
What to anticipate from joining:
Becoming a member grants access to a network of tech experts, hiring managers, and mentors, along with 35,000+ other product managers. The Product School community offers a multitude of tools, the chance to prepare for interviews and receive career help, as well as a Slack channel where the Product School CEO hosts Q&As.
- The Product Coalition
How it works:
The Product Coalition, a Medium.com organisation, runs ProductCoalition.com, the top online publication for product managers, and is the largest free community for them.
What to anticipate from joining:
Numerous product managers regularly exchange ideas in the community’s active Slack channel, which hosts hundreds of articles on PM-related topics. You can even submit your own work for consideration for publishing on ProductCoalition.com.
- Elezea
How it works:
Rian van der Merwe, a seasoned software product manager and the author of Making it Right: Product Management for a Startup World, runs the product management blog and forum Elezea.
What to anticipate from joining:
Elezea is a Swahili term that means to clarify, explain, and illuminate. Elezea’s content aids in providing clarity and fresh viewpoints on issues pertaining to product management, design, and software development.
However, joining the community (which costs $3 per month) is mainly about assisting van der Merwe in administering the website and enabling him to look into ideas for articles. In other words, even if you choose not to become a member of the community, you can still access all of Elezea’s content for free. Van der Merwe does, however, occasionally offer updates, app recommendations, and other stuff to Elezea subscribers only.
- Creative Product Managers
How it works:
More than 72,000 creative product managers interact privately online in the Creative Product Managers community on LinkedIn. Members share knowledge and advice. The goal of the community is to assist product managers in developing their abilities.
What to anticipate from joining:
The group administrator for the community notes that Creative Product Managers is a public discussion forum where product managers may ask questions, share their experiences with bringing products to market, and give other product managers advise.
Members are free to publish content at any time, but the community is monitored and managed to ensure that all discussions remain purely about PMs. As a result, any contributions that stray from this topic are immediately removed.
Join Creative Product Managers
- Product Management Insider
How it works:
An online publication devoted to all things product management is called Product Management Insider. Mike Fishbein, the publication’s editor in chief, also serves as the host of the popular PM podcast This Is Product Management.
What to anticipate from joining:
When you sign up, you’ll gain access to Product Management Insider’s premium content, including industry data, alerts on crucial industry events, and even job opportunities, just like the other 7,000+ product managers in this community.
Join Product Management Insider
- Women in Product
How it works:
A community called Women in Product was established to give women equitable representation and access to careers in product management. The organisation has geographical chapters in Austin, Toronto, and other cities, as well as a larger online community where women in product management at all levels may connect, share ideas, and potentially find employment.
What to anticipate from joining:
You will have access to the community’s dozens of conferences and other live events throughout the year as a member of Women in Product. Additionally, you will receive the official community newsletter, which covers important product management subjects and highlights the achievements of other women in the industry. Additionally, as the group itself states, members of the Women in Product community may “celebrate each other’s accomplishments, share our knowledge, and build skills to grow our careers.”
- Hacker Noon
How it works:
A community-based online journal called Hacker Noon features posts and discussions about software. The group was created for programmers—it isn’t called Product Manager Noon—and the bulk of its members work in the software industry. However, both the community’s articles and its discussion groups contain useful suggestions and information for tech PMs.
What to anticipate from joining:
The Hacker Noon community is welcoming. To join, there are no requirements that must be met. According to the website, “Anyone can start a tech discussion at community.hackernoon.com.” You can also submit your own articles by sending an email to stories@hackernoon.com or contributing to hackernoon.com.
Hacker Noon: Start Reading and Contributing
- Mind the Product
How it works:
One of the biggest communities for product experts is called Mind the Product. The goal of the organisation is to support product creators as they “push our craft forward together.” Today, they mostly accomplish this through global member gatherings.
What to anticipate from joining:
As a member, you will have access to the community’s regular meetups in more than 175 cities as well as invitations to write for Mind the Product, receive the group’s daily product newsletter, and participate in one of the largest Slack channels for product professionals in the world.
- Products that Count
What it is:
Products that Count, one of the largest product management communities in the world, was founded by a seasoned product manager from Facebook and Nokia. It has more than 200,000 active members.
What to anticipate from joining:
Exclusive management videos, podcasts, and other digital resources are provided to Products that Count members. Members also receive access to executive panels, executive meetings, and other live events with thought leaders from the product sector.
- Product Manager Jobs
How it works:
This LinkedIn group is exactly what it says it is: a closed forum with job openings for product management.
What to anticipate from joining:
You will have immediate access to the most recent product management job postings across a variety of industries, including Enterprise Software, SaaS, eCommerce, AdTech, FinTech, HealthTech, Marketing Tech, and others, if you join the more than 24,000 other PMs in the Product Manager Jobs LinkedIn community.
Additionally, only high-quality listings with complete job descriptions (or links to the whole job descriptions) will be allowed on the forum, according to the community’s group admins. Because of this, as the administrator points out, you won’t have to waste time looking through posters that say, “I’m hiring — call me.”
Join the Product Manager Jobs LinkedIn Community
