I still remember the first time I was faced with an emergency as a young doctor. There were two patients, both requiring immediate attention, but for different reasons. The decisions I made in those crucial moments taught me the essence of prioritisation, a skill I carry with me to this day in the tech world. As a healthcare professional who has switched from a clinical career to one in healthcare technology, I know that many fundamental healthcare skills are transferable to other sectors, and that healthcare professionals can and should take managerial positions. 

Before we crack on to the three fundamental skills developed in healthcare that can make any healthcare professional well equipped for a role in product management, let’s define a product manager and a doctor. 

• A product manager identifies the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfil, articulates what success looks like for a product, and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality. 
• A doctor is skilled in the science of medicine, a person who is trained and licensed to treat sick and injured people.

Now that we’ve got the definitions out of the way, here are three fundamental skills developed in healthcare that can make any healthcare professional suitable for a role in product management. 

#1 Prioritisation

David Allen’s quote ‘you can do anything, but not everything’, is true of healthcare. Due to the numerous time constraints, ‘triage’ is a term ingrained in the minds of all healthcare professionals and is essentially just another word for ‘prioritisation’.

Here is an example where the ability to prioritise comes in handy in healthcare: 

• A patient presents to the Accident and Emergency department with multiple medical problems such as a skin infection, and high blood pressure. It is crucial to be able to recognise which medical problem to address first, such as the skin infection in this case, which is more likely to be problematic in the short term. 

Prioritisation is a skill that is innate both to healthcare and managerial roles. Through the contexts different between healthcare and product management, both fields involve close work with team members. Teamwork involves engaging with and leading individuals with different skill sets and responsibilities, necessitating organisation of time in order to satisfy the various stakeholders. 

Similar to healthcare, there are multiple instances where prioritisation is key within product management:

• A product manager decides where and what to spend time on when juggling multiple meetings with numerous employees and collaborators
• A product manager decides how to balance the expectations of multiple stakeholders when delivering a product. For example, prioritising efforts to deal with issues raised by stakeholders including software bugs, new updates and marketing problems.

#2 Communication 

Communication is key for both healthcare professionals and product managers. Communication is multifaceted, but let’s focus on two core elements; 1) advocacy and 2) documentation. 

Advocacy as a Healthcare Professional and/or Product Manager

Advocacy is commonly referred to as being the “voice for the voiceless”. Where healthcare professionals advocate for their patients, product managers must advocate for the users of their product. With today’s focus on patient-centred care, unlike the paternalistic approach in the past, patient advocacy forms a key part of clinical practice, and is frequently highlighted in several key medical guidelines: 

• Registered nurses act in the best interests of people, putting them first and providing nursing care that is person-centred, safe and compassionate. (Nursing & Midwifery Council)
• Make the care of your patient your first concern. (General Medical Council)

Patient-centred care requires collaborative engagement with the patient in order to understand and respect their perspective and wishes to do the best for them. By substituting patients for a product, it is easy to appreciate that advocacy is important to a product manager. Here is a pertinent examples of how advocacy plays into the life of a product manager: 

• Understanding the needs of a diverse group of customers by engaging with them regularly 

Documentation

Several guidelines highlight the importance of documentation in product management. Here is one such instance: 

• “Good product managers create high leverage collateral, FAQs, presentations, white papers. Bad product managers complain that they spend all day answering questions for the sales force and are swamped” (Good Product Manager Bad Product Manager)

Similarly, a comprehensive paperwork forms a key part of the job scope of many healthcare professionals: 

• “You must keep clear, accurate, and legible records which report the relevant clinical findings, the decisions made, the information given to patients, any drugs or other treatment prescribed and who is making the record and when” (Good Medical Practice by the General Medical Council)

Clearly, the ability to leave accurate, comprehensive papertrail (a major part of communication), is transferable from healthcare to product management. 

#3 Recognising the Underlying Problem

While problem-solving is often emphasised across many roles, the ability to “ask the right questions” can bring us on a journey that is of great value for ourselves and for individuals around us. Forget me, many noteworthy individuals have highlighted the importance of a good question: 

• The right question is usually more important than the right answer (Plato)
• I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned. (Richard Feynman)

These are just some examples. Numerous others such as Nancy Willard and Albert Einstein, have expressed similar sentiments. In Medicine, asking questions can aid in digging deeper, to identify key differential diagnoses in patients, which can then be validated or disproved via clinical examinations and investigations. For instance, a patient might present with constipation and abdominal cramps and, quite reasonably, requesting laxatives. Prescribing the laxatives without further questioning and testing could miss an underlying cause; the urinary tract infection that had been caused by the constipation., and therefore be a missed opportunity to address the underlying cause of the presenting complaint (problem). 

Similarly, in product management, asking questions can aid in a better understanding of the customers’ scenario and problems which can direct the right solution, and avoid the mistake of building what you think your customers want. For those who would like further insight into this as a product manager, head onto this article by Ujjwal Trivedi. 

The transition from healthcare to tech may seem like a leap, but the skills nurtured in the corridors of hospitals are remarkably relevant in the boardrooms of tech companies. As I've navigated this transition, I've grown to appreciate the symbiotic relationship between these worlds. For clinicians curious about technology or business, rest assured, your skills are not only transferable but also highly coveted. If you’re a clinician interested in exploring a career in technology or business, look out for our upcoming course to equip you with the skills, network and confidence to make a successful career switch. Sign up for our newsletter here and find out more at BiteLabs.

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