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When joining a new team, is it better to have the right soft skills and have to learn the hard skills of the job? Or vice versa?

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4 Answers
Product Management Skills
  1. Jacqueline Porter
    Jacqueline Porter

    IBM Product Management • 1y

    As with most things - the answer really depends! Although, I have found that being a product manager boils down to 4 main skills: Customer empathy Setting expectations Growth mindset Action bias In many cases, deeply understanding the customer's problems and needs helps you build the proper technical acumen over time. Market sizing, competitive analysis, prioritization, and opportunity assessments can have a spectrum of accountability by role in different organizations. TL;DR - soft skills offer ...Read More

    710 Views
  2. Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
    Mamuna Oyofo, MBA

    Shopify VP of Product • 4y

    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

    1,269 Views
  3. Aindra Misra
    Aindra Misra

    BILL Director, Product Management (Data, AI, DevEx, Identity) | Formerly Twitter/X • 1y

    It's vice versa. Soft skills are something which you learn on the job. Hard skills can be easily acquired now with all the AI resources and training materials available online. Soft skills like stakeholder management, sync and async communication, how to tell the story, influencing without authority etc.. Soft skills like these are hard to learn theoretically, and comes only through experience and on the job. Some of it also depends on your personality.

    730 Views
  4. Anton Kravchenko
    Anton Kravchenko

    Carta Sr. Director of Product Management | Formerly Salesforce, MuleSoft, Apple • 3y

    I don't think it's black & white. There is a broader spectrum of colors here. Leverage your superpowers to shine and learn the skills that help you do your job better. What matters is delivering results that move the business forward. These results will be noticed, and the rest will organically follow. 

    359 Views

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