Laid Off; Now What?

Marty Cagan argues that a layoff, though painful, can be turned into a valuable period for building product management skills and becoming a more desirable candidate. He briefly advises keeping professional social profiles and local networks current while job hunting. The bulk of the essay is a ten-item list of concrete skills to develop, spanning product discovery, technology, design, user research, prototyping, market knowledge, finance, development processes, business planning, and competitive analysis. Because many PMs lack time for deliberate development while working, the between-jobs window offers a rare chance to close those gaps. The advice remains relevant to anyone facing a career gap or wanting to systematically upskill.

01Key takeaways

• Use the time between jobs deliberately to build PM skills you rarely have time to develop while employed.
• Keep LinkedIn and other professional profiles current, with endorsements and connections who can vouch for you.
• Practice product discovery, since great PMs excel at it and it draws on business, UX, and technology.
• Build a prototype, test it with target users, and learn quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Strengthen financial literacy and understand development processes such as Scrum and Agile.
• Write a business plan for an idea, get critiques, and analyze competitors' top strengths and weaknesses.

02Key sections

Job search basics

Keep professional networking profiles accurate and active, and connect with people who can introduce you or vouch for you. Local meetups are also useful for building contacts.

Why use the gap for growth

Day-to-day firefighting leaves little room for skill development, especially without a manager invested in your growth. Time between jobs is an opportunity to improve deliberately.

Core product craft skills

Focus on product discovery as the heart of PM work, and build technical, interaction design, user research, and prototyping abilities.

Business and process skills

Strengthen market and financial knowledge, learn development methods like Scrum and Agile, and write a business plan to test your ideas.

Analysis and continued learning

Practice competitive analysis by assessing rivals' strengths and weaknesses, and consider deeper reading or workshops as ongoing development.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.