AMA: Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence), Paresh Vakhariya on Building a Product Management Team

November 8 @ 10:00AM PT

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How do you effectively split your attention between contributing individually and coaching your PM's? Do these two priorities ever conflict with each other?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

As a PM leader, it is imperative to balance individual work and managing teams of PM's.There are some key tasks I would focus on as an IC such as setting up the right vis...

812 Views

1 request

How do you communicate product management updates and activities to the rest of the company?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

It is important to tailor your communication methods to your company's culture, teams, projects and their needs.Here are some of my favorites ones:Slack (messaging) Updat...

819 Views

1 request

I’m the first PM hire in my company. What advice would you give to someone tasked with establishing this function in an existing business structure?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

Here is my advice for a junior PM in a small company:Get to know your product. Learn to ue it everyday and document any issues you seeTalk to customers about their experi...

838 Views

3 requests

Do you have any advice for a junior PM who is a first product management hire?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

Here is my advice for a junior PM in a small company:Get to know your product. Learn to ue it everyday and document any issues you seeTalk to customers about their experi...

774 Views

1 request

As a product manager, what are the make-or-break things for you when interviewing a potential next product manager for your team?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

Here are the top things I would look for in a product manager on my team:Customer-Centric: understanding and serving the needs of the customers/users possibly via user in...

1034 Views

1 request

What is the single most important activity you prioritize as a product leader? Why do you prioritize this activity above all else?

- How might this shift according to company maturity and the maturity of the product you're working on? - For IC PMs, what is the single most important activity that you'd recommend they prioritize? How might this shift according to company maturity and the maturity of the product you're working on?

Paresh Vakhariya•

Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, Verizon • 2y

Setting a solid product vision, strategy and a clear roadmap for atleast 3-6-12 months is the top activity for a PM leader. Some benefits of having this in place are:Dete...

1523 Views

1 request