AMA: Google Group Product Manager, Google Assistant, Neel Joshi on Consumer Product Management

Without going into specifics, the biggest challenge has been cross-organization influencing. My time at both Microsoft and Google has exposed me to lots of intra-organization projects with varying levels of buy-in from each team. The level of effort and coordination required to pull not one, but two organizations in the same direction can be enormous. As a PM - at any level - it's your role to effectively communicate why what you're trying to acheive makes sense for other teams, your company and ...Read More

Be your customer as much as you can. Try everything you make multiple times in different scenarios. There's a reason companies like Starbucks and DoorDash have programs in place that put their corp staff on the ground - it opens your eyes to things that you might not have otherwise spotted. I'm also a huge fan having a regular forum for your teams to interact with your customers. In the enterprise setting these can be Early Access Programs that have select customers try out new products ahead of ...Read More

There are so many great resources nowadays on what to expect for big tech interviews, so instead of reiterating they key themes from those, here's my not-so-common take:  Understand what the interviewer is looking for. Across big tech, the interviewer panel is diverse and each person is trying to get enough signal to make a recommendation for the area they are evaluating. It's in your interest to find out early on what it is they are after. For example, if you know you're being evaluated for Pro ...Read More

Promotion readiness varies quite a bit between companies, but I think there are some common themes that most agree on: Performing at the next level. If you're meeting expecations for your role at your current level, the chances are you'd be underacheiving at the level above. That's why most organizations would like to see sustained performance at the level above where you are now. In cases where the diffferences between levels are clearly spelled out, this would mean you can take a look at the c ...Read More

I'll directly answer the question, but then challenge it. The most typical path that I've seen has been starting as an Associate/Junior PM after completing either a Computer Science, Information Systems or Business undergrad degree. However ... in my opinion, PM is a craft that benefits more than any other from diverse backgrounds. I've worked with PMs who were previously marketers, project managers, engineers, business development managers and designers. In fact, due to the varied backgrounds f ...Read More

Great question! This is a fun one and something I could spend a lot of time talking about. Let's pick a trend in a few different areas; Job role, Job market, Strategy, Industry trend, Consumer trend. [Job role] Collaboration in a remote world Communication is the most critical skill for PMs and the shift to a remote-inclusive world has made that skill more difficult. I've found collaboration to particularly challenging. There are a miriad of online tools at our disposal and PM needs to get to gr ...Read More

Let's split evaluating the company and evaluating the opportunity. When evaluating the company - or if it's a huge company like Google, the division - I like to think about three criteria first and foremost:  User value - Is the company delivering undenyable user value with the product/service it's offering? A company that is set out to solve for concrete user needs with a great product/service is set up for success. There are of course many other related components such as good market positioni ...Read More