AMA: Atlassian Director of Product Management (Cloud Platform), Paresh Vakhariya on Product Management Career Path

The best PM's have: - Strong leadership and communication skills. To be able to talk to customers, stakeholders, and leadership with the right context. They are good at leading teams with ambiguous problems and helping them arrive at a decision quickly - Strategy and Vision: the ability to define a problem, size and prioritize them, come up with a solution (along with a set of steps needed to achieve their goal) - Comfort with data, metrics, and OKR setting: set clear goals and a plan to achieve ...Read More

Some key types I have encountered are: UX/UI product managers: These product managers are responsible for the user experience and user interface of a product.  Platform product managers: These product managers focus on building and managing platforms that enable other products or services to be built on top of them. Growth product managers: These product managers focus on driving growth and increasing user acquisition, retention, and engagement.  Technical product managers: managing the developm ...Read More

For a PM or Sr. PM, the skills needed are: Strategic thinking and ability to develop product roadmaps that align with company goals Deep understanding of customer/user issues and product development processes Strong communication and leadership skills to lead cross-functional teams Advanced knowledge of prioritization and risk management Advanced analytical skills to define OKR's and metrics For a Director or executive, the skills needed are all of th ePM skills plus: Strong leadership and commu ...Read More

- Soft skills such as communication, teamwork, adaptability, and a willingness to learn are also important for any product organization. - Work with Engineering on a day to day basis to help build a product by clarifying requirements (which are gathered from various data sources) - Additionally skills such as clear prioritization, OKR and goal setting and a good understanding of metrics are crucial - Good UI/UX skills, ability to talk to customers and help articulate their customer challenges to ...Read More

It can be challenging to break into PM space but here are a few tips: 1. Switch roles to PM within your current organization: this is the best path as you already have a good understanding of your company, product, customers, metrics and stakeholders. Find a team that will offer you this career growth (by working with your manager) 2. Apply for roles within your industry and domain. This might help you switch over more easily than a completely new area. 2. Determine the type of PM you want to me ...Read More

Some key tips are: - Research the industry: what are the specific areas within SAAS you are most interested in? Follow newsletters, influencers and publications/conferences. Network with relevant leaders. - Start a side hustle that showcases your skills. I build a mobile app from scratch to gain relevant experience. This helped me get a better understanding of the in's and out's. Build out a portfolio of your learnings. - Use relevant tools and products that will help you gain an understanding o ...Read More

The 3 top areas I think are: Leadership and team management Managing a team of product managers, as well as collaborating with cross-functional teams across the organization is key. Provide feedback on all aspects of strategy and execution is key to becoming a leader. Hiring and onboarding PM's is key. Setting strategy and vision for the team Build a vision that the team rallies around, decide on the org structure, OKR's that your team will drive and ensure that aligns with long term company str ...Read More

Leadership levels require a broad set of skills and experience, as well as a strong commitment to leadership, team mentoring and cross-functional collaboration.  A lot of time is spent in deciding the strategy/vision, seeking alignment with leadership and cross-functional stakeholders. Once strategy is completed, hiring the right PM's (and other functions) to align with the strategy is key. Also ensuring the org structure supports the strategy and empowers the teams to do their best work. Team c ...Read More