AMA: Shopify VP of Product, Mamuna (Oyofo) Oladipo on PM Soft and Hard Skills

My personal take is that when I am speaking with strong product candidates, I can see a few qualities shine through in their story. For me, those are:  1. They are constant Learners/curious They are constantly asking questions and actively listening. They are readers and constant consumers of information. To me, this shows that when they come on the team, they will bring fresh ideas forward. Ask the team questions that others may not consider and bring new information to the table.  2. They are ...Read More

It's hard for me to think anyone is 'doomed' per se but I would make this a focus area if you are truly trying to get into product management. Making smart decisions quickly is a strong product management trait and so to be successful, you will need to be comforatble doing that. I would probably reverse the lens and ask yourself if you would be happy making smart decisions quickly everyday. Does that excite you? If so, then dive into why you can't or don't want to currently. If it is not excitin ...Read More

The biggest mistake I will mention here is not getting stakeholder buy-in. A lot of times we make assumptions about what people want and do not take the time ahead of to understand needs. Speak to those needs and share any constraints. Work to bring alignment across stakeholders. In the end, stakeholders lose trust in the product manager because they do not feel seen or heard. It is important that pre-work is done ahead of time so that when roadmaps are being presented, nothing comes as a surpri ...Read More

I personally believe this to be communication. Often times, we as PMs dive heads down into a problem with understanding that we need to have a time with us to do the work. It is important to develop a communication style that resonates meaningfully with your audience. As a PM, you will need to communicate with: 1. Stakeholders 2. Peers 3. Direct reports 4. External partners  Each of these groups will require their own set of nuance that you will need to determine based on the relationship you ar ...Read More

I personally have been teaching at The Product School and have seen benefits/value from those coming out of the course. It is really going to come down to your own learning style however. You could also very much find free reading materials if you are unable to invest in taking courses at the moment. You can go on youtube and simply search 'product management' and consuming videos and talks. You could go on twitter and read through the numerous shared docs there. It really comes down to whether ...Read More

The hard skills that come to mind for me are: 1. Technical - This is going to vary depending on the type of career you want to have and the company you want to work for. Generally, it is important for you to have an understanding of technical development principles and vocabulary. You want to be a strong partner to your peers and competitively, this will put you ahead of others.  2. Analytical - Data is an important part of the product management journey. Someone said "If you care about it, meas ...Read More

I am very much a systems thinker and like to understand the whole. I started my product career focusing on product management but quickly was exposed to the different facets of product management incl product design, engineering and product marketing. I wanted to do a bit of a deep dive in each of these areas so I could better understand how to use them in my craft. So I worked in those spaces, built out teams and best practices around how to do them well. Ultimately, I did that in service of ma ...Read More

It likely depends on the type of role you are entering into, the focus and phase of the product. It also will likely depend on whether the company has invested a lot in building out an existing UX team. I am biased because I have built out product design teams and therefore see true value in anyone who is working on product understanding experience fundamentals. If you have the best idea for a product but no one understands how to actually use it and get value, what use is the product to begin w ...Read More

I'm a fan of pairing. Often times Engineering works so closely with product, it is easy enough to sit more closely with your product partner and work through problems together. Ask questions and learn while on the job. If and when you get comfortable enough, start to volunteer to take on different tasks. I've worked with engineers who pair with me in writing requirements, buidling out tickets, reviewing designs, conducting user research. With this, you can now speak to first hand experiences and ...Read More

To be a strong product manager, you will have to learn to balance your art in the science. That is your hard and soft skills. When you are new to a team, naturally you want to show your value and start to contribute right away. However you don't take the time to understand the dynamics of the existing team, build the right relationships, understand communication styles, you may set yourself up for failture even before you start. My recommendation would be to come in, get an understanding for the ...Read More

I like to look at feedback as a gift and approach it with an open mind. How I would approach this is: 1. Do some soul searching :) understanding your own communication style. How do you communicate? How do you like to be communicated to? What things help you stay open minded? What things make you shut down? What are your values? 2. Once you have that. Setup a meeting with your manager and thank them for being open to giving you feedback but that you are having a bit of trouble understanding how ...Read More