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Do you think it makes sense to grow PM competence within the organization or hire people from the broader market to succeed faster?
i.e. how much should we focus on and invest in the teammates who could switch/transfer in their roles vs pay for the new PMs coming from other organizations as new hires?
2 Answers

Julian Dunn
GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • December 1
This is a tough question to answer because it is so situational. For example - I have seen organizations where PM is so immature that it is essentially a project management function. Melissa Perri even uses such an example in her excellent book Escaping the Build Trap! While in Perri's fictional ......Read More
428 Views

Kalvin Brite
Contentful VP, Product Management • January 3
Regardless of how you grow your product team, you'll need to establish a healthy culture around the product process, how you work, and the principles you run the team with. This means you have a defined process for how you work, it's clear what you expect from PMs in the team and what it takes to......Read More
247 Views
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Julian Dunn
GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • December 1
There are a couple of factors to consider here: * Are you learning anything new in your current role? If not, would staying with the company, even if it is in a different role, or a more senior role (be that IC or management), satisfy your learning? * Do you enjoy the domain, vertical, a......Read More
417 Views
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Anton Kravchenko
Carta Director of Product Management • February 3
My favorite interview question was asked by a hiring manager ~8 years ago when I interviewed for an Associate PM position at MuleSoft. I was asked the following: "Imagine humans decided to take the moon and put it through a giant chopper/grinder. The mass that comes out of the chopper is being d......Read More
452 Views
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Natalia Baryshnikova
Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise Agility • February 16
At Atlassian, we look at multiple pillars of value PMs bring to the organization: delivering outcomes (think - moving business KRs and goals), leadership (inspiring others), communication, helping others grow product craft and so on. I really love this framework. My recommendation is to first a......Read More
657 Views
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Louisa Henry
Gusto Head of Product for Mid-Market Businesses • April 21
If you’re looking to grow from a Senior PM to a Group PM or Director, begin to look more broadly across the business vs focusing solely on your specific product area. It’s important to deeply understand the business levers that outcomes that the company is aiming to achieve. Once you start to und......Read More
335 Views
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Milena Krasteva
Walmart Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology • October 6
There is no substitute for being hands-on, although there is now also plenty of literature on PM-ing. Become more technical by learning from your engineering and data science partners. Don't worry too much about annoying people. Most will be kind enough to explain and it will make their job easie......Read More
271 Views
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Rodrigo Davies
Asana Product Management Area Lead • May 17
For me the biggest differentiator is having a growth mindset. This doesn't just mean they want to make an impact and improve as a PM. For me it comes down to three things: 1. They have a sense of what they know and don't know, and are always eager to learn more. They question their own assu......Read More
1139 Views
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