Special: The most influential product association you’ve never heard of – with Susan Penta

The value the Product Development and Management Association provides for product mangers and leaders Today we are talking about the most influential professional product association you’ve likely never heard of. The association is PDMA, and we’ll talk about what the they do and why you should know about them. Susan Penta is with us. She is the Chair of PDMA and has served in other volunteer roles with the association in the past. She is also the co-founder and managing partner at MIDIOR, which has been providing professional services for 26 years to product organizations in a number of areas from product insights, product development and management, and technology platforms. It’s worth noting that PDMA is a volunteer-led organization and, like Susan, most of the people involved in its leadership have fulltime jobs in product roles yet make time to contribute to the professional association.  On and off, I’ve been one of those contributors as well because PDMA has been vital in my career development and I want to help other product managers. I’m currently serving PDMA by being an author on the 3rd edition of their body of knowledge for product innovation, which Wiley is publishing in early 2024. This episode is sponsored by PDMA so we can find out more about the association. Register for PDMA’s 2023 Inspire Innovation Conference on September 16th-19th in New Orleans, LA, USA.   Summary of some concepts discussed for product managers [2:15] What is PDMA? PDMA is the Product Development and Management Association. We exist to advance and nurture the discipline of innovation, product development, and product management. We do that through academic research, academic-focused professional development, education, certification, and community. We were founded in 1976 by a group of individuals who at that point powered some of the most respected, recognized, and innovative companies. Today we are still doing that, and we are one of the only associations, if not the only professional association, to bring together academics, practitioners, and service providers around the discipline of product management to advance the discipline. [4:13] Why is PDMA not better known among product managers and leaders? You can talk about it as a marketing problem, but I think there is some root cause in our mission. Because we are about nurturing the discipline of product management itself, PDMA isn’t the place where individuals who work in product roles come to get jobs. Because our focus is on thought leadership and often the kind of content we bring to the table is heavy—academic or at least well researched and thought through—we are for those who are not faint of heart when it comes to product development and management. For many individuals who work in product management and product development roles, the discipline is a stop on their career path, so they don’t necessarily get jazzed about the discipline itself. Our work in our communities is through our chapters. We are not putting commercialized content out there. We don’t have a big marketing engine. While we are a global organization, our grassroots are in each individual location where our chapters are. We should be better known, and organizations trying to professionalize the discipline of product development and product management inside their company give our certification visibility, but many people in small to medium businesses might not engage with PDMA unless they come across a chapter or our journal or somebody like Chad or me. [12:47] What value have you found by being a PDMA member? I fancy myself a lifelong learner. I care about nurturing the discipline of product management and development. In PDMA, you’re always learning. It’s fascinating to hear how other industri...