AMA: Optimizely Chief Product Officer, Rupali Jain on Product Management Career Path

I'd always encourage you to think through impact and understand it before building a feature. Ask whoever is pushing you to build, ask your peers, validate with customers -- do whatever you can to understand and describe the problem your feature is solving for and how you'd measure impact. That said, especially earlier in your career, if you do have features that you think drive no impact, a couple of thoughts to help you think through - Uplevel your thinking to that of your boss or whoever gave ...Read More

The biggest strengths (and believe me its a huge benefit, and one I look for in all candidates) are being scrappy and getting sh** done. As an entrepreneur, you are forced into an environment that isn't perfect, that doesn't have all the structure or support you need to succeed, so you are forced to figure out your path to goal by trying different approaches and you quickly learn what does and doesn't work. This is an incredible way of learning and one that will serve you well in product managem ...Read More

Oh, I could write about this for a loooong time :). I'll condense down to a few key traits Critical thinking - do you have the ability to understand and articulate the problem you are solving for and then finding a solution that works Collaboration and communication - PMs work through influence. Being able to work with and communicate with peers and stakeholders is critical to success. I look for the ability to structure your thoughts and have strong verbal and written communication as part of t ...Read More

Based on your question, you already realize that title is a very small part of making this transition. If you want to move to product, start thinking about the types of projects that you take on that get you working with the product team closely - on partnerships, its better to focus on tech partnerships for example, which work more closely with product teams. Become the partner liaison to the product team or to a part of the product so you can take on projects that help you see what good produc ...Read More

I'll start with the second part first. Be direct about what skills you are hoping to develop or share that you are hoping to break into product management, and let the person you are hoping will mentor you know that. Whether you position as a formal request for mentorship, or simply let the person know you respect them and would love advice, the focus should be on establishing the relationship. For me personally, the word mentor has a higher bar than someone simply asking for advice. If I've nev ...Read More