Solving my “Identity” Crisis
Wow. I’m giving myself a cookie for that title. You’ll see why.
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“What am I doing with my life?”, I asked my friend. She said “don’t go there” because these drag you into existential despair.
When I was much younger, I had very different plans as to what my future was going to be (Doctor, anyone?). But I tried different things because how can one just stick to one thing or pick your career at 6? After a good 7 years in hospitality, advertising, and a radio show host (don’t google me) I joined a tech company. To be honest, as I walked into the doors of WSO2, I noticed the security guard with a mac. Where do I sign up?
I started at WSO2 events promoting WSO2con and years later there was a discussion to form a product marketing team and I was asked to be the product marketing manager for our identity and access management product. I said yes although I’m not techy(please don’t tell anyone) I LOVE to talk. I can imagine the apprehension of the product teams thinking what I noob I might be.
My immediate go-to was Prabath Siriwardena- PM of WSO2 Identity Server and the current deputy CTO for WSO2 IAM, who is based out of CA. He was always available despite the time of day I pinged him to ask what SSO was or what access control meant. He took time out of his Sabbatical to answer all my questions (he did this while writing a book). He’s easily one of the few managers I’ve had candid conversations with about growth and becoming the best PMM I can be. Prabath always spoke about the value of building one’s own brand and identifying your niche. Every achievement was met with a “That was great — I think you should try XYZ too” which kept me learning.
Ishara Karunarathna — head of engineering at IAM — is the calmest and most chilled out person on the team. I think Ishara’s talent is being able to decipher complex things and bring people together. There was something about Ishara that you’d want to tell him all your worries and that’s a great thing to have as a leader. During the product sessions, he would patiently sit me down and explain concepts and what users would look for.
A skill that I picked up from Malithi Edirisinghe— associate PM — is how she comes up with her plans and processes for the new launch, and gets the buy-in from team members in phases. So that way when the wider team call happens, there are individuals that are already on board with the plan. That’s quite smart.
If you’re PMM in a tech company, the solutions architect team is an excellent source to get the customer/product perspective. Johann Dilantha Nallathamby who heads our SA team is a SME and have always helped me to tell the story of the product and to communicate the value. Sometimes PMMs don’t always get to sit during customer calls although it’s highly advisable you do. If not, do talk to your solutions architect/pre-sales team, they can definitely help you.
I worked with Omindu esp with a new product we’re hoping to launch. I believe in getting done > perfection but his level of being detail-oriented and paying attention to things that I missed out on was an eye-opener to think more about user experience and what developers are looking for.
One of the key things I wanted to do was getting everyone excited about marketing. Considering all the demos we do for #Identityin15, you bet we’ve got hype. A big shout out to Nipuni Bhagya, Janak Amarasena, Dinali Rosemin Dabarera, Sachini Wettasinghe, Ashen De Silva, Theviyanthan Krishnamohan who are the troopers that keep this going. And also Vidyas from marketing that helps to get this done. Plus the team blogs a lot, there’s a lot you’ll find on Identitybeyondborders and on Github.
WSO2 Identity Server is an excellent product. Our head of the IAM BU, Geethika Cooray, wrote this cool blog on our 13th anniversary with all the things we achieved last year. Sidebar: If there’s one person I’ve learned about negotiating and diplomacy, it’s this guy.
A couple of proud moments for us was when we were named a strong performer and an overall leader in CIAM. And it’s also built by an exceptional team that I had the pleasure of working with. I’ve only mentioned a handful of names here, but there’s a ton of others in the team (Ruwan Abeykoon, Darshana Gunawardana, Asela Pathberiya, and a whole bunch) that are absolute superstars making our IAM products as simple and user-friendly as possible.
I think with any career or job, there are a couple of things that help for sure. For me, it’s being super obsessed with the subject matter and the eagerness to learn. I still don’t get the complete ins and out of the product (it’s middleware) but I immersed myself in the industry, the competition and tried to translate it the way I know to tell the story of identity and access management and how it relates to me. Storytelling is the ultimate skill especially for a product marketer so being able to tell your product’s story to get the buy-in a)from internal teams and then b) customers is usually a good start.
As passionate as you are, the people that surround you matter too. And there is always something to learn from any person you meet. Are they nurturing, are they supportive, and how eager are they to help one another? Because this plays a role in helping someone’s career and the need to explore that further. And how are YOU able to help them out? That’s how you are able to bring value as a product marketer.
So today after 7 years in WSO2 and 3 years in product marketing, I’ll be heading towards a new adventure to continue as a PMM and I’m quite excited/sad/nervous/<insert all the emotions>. To the WSO2 Identity Server team that supported me and taught me things, I hope I did right by you guys.
