Five top takeaways on the day in a life of a deputy product manager/lead

FORT BELVOIR, Va. ­­– Several current and former deputy product managers and leads from PEO EIS shared their backgrounds, activities and perspectives at a June 18 virtual Lunch and Learn on “A Day in the Life of a Deputy Product Manager/Lead,” organized by PEO EIS’s Strategic Communication Directorate.

Michelle Walker, IPPS-A deputy program manager, served as moderator of the panel, which featured five participants:

• Art Edgeson, deputy product manager, Cyber Analytics & Detection
• Preston Hayward, deputy product lead, CHESS
• Rich Licata, deputy product manager, IPPS-A Inc 2
• Reg Shuford, former deputy product manager, GFEBS-SA
• Bob Zoppa, deputy product manager, GCSS-A

Following are five top takeaways from the event, which can be viewed on Microsoft Teams in its entirety.

1. Deputy product managers/leads have varied career backgrounds but a common love for acquisition work. Four of the five panelists started off in the military, while Shuford began his career at Coca-Cola.  Before assuming their current roles as Army civilians, they served in varying capacities at contracting firms, in state government, with the Army Acquisition Corps and at the Pentagon, among other places. “The great thing about all of my jobs… is every one of them, I’ve taken a little nugget from that I’ve been able to use in my current job,” said Edgeson.

2. Breadth of knowledge—including of the organization, program and its people—is key to success. As a deputy product manager/lead, it’s important to have a pulse on the entire organization and all aspects of the program, panelists said. This enables them to step in, as necessary, for product managers and make their jobs as easy as possible. “You are the institutional knowledge; you are that jack-of-all-trades dealing with other sections of your program that enables the product manager to look to the future,” said Hayward.

3. Becoming a deputy product manager/lead takes time and input from the pros. To get on this career path, it’s important to become an expert in many fields, learn how to work with different types of personalities and shore up any weak areas you might have, panelists said. Chatting with or shadowing colleagues, including the deputies, can be helpful. “I think the key, the most important thing to me, was my time in the building,” said Licata. “The people you meet there… dealing with senior leaders… that time really benefited me.”

4. It’s wise to have multiple mentors. Shuford said he personally had two mentors, one outside of the organization, so he was able to learn about different perspectives, and one within the organization—though in a different program office—to discuss opportunities and how things get done. He also praised the Defense Acquisition University’s formal mentor program. “I would encourage everyone, to include PDs and PMs, to take advantage of that,” he said.

5. Long workdays are part and parcel of the job. On a typical day, Zoppa reports in, catches up on the “crises du jour,” sets priorities, attends lots of meetings, gets back to his priorities, touches base with his product manager and ends the day by responding to emails. “I get hundreds of emails a day,” said Zoppa, who typically wraps up his business day by 6 or 7 p.m.