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

1 Answer

Milena Krasteva

Walmart Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology • June 10

This reminds me of an interview question I got a very long time ago: "Is it better to have a bad team or a bad manager". In both cases, you'd rather not find yourself in either extreme. In both cases, there is no right or wrong answer and a lot depends on additional circumstances and assumptions.......Read More

1456 Views

What are good OKRs for product management?

4 Answers

Virgilia Kaur Pruthi (she/her)

Microsoft Principal PM Manager / Product Leader • February 1

This could really range based upon the company, your users, your target goals, where you are in your business lifecyle, etc. The most basic ones are: acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, referral You could also be measuring customer lifetime value. Again this will really depend upon w......Read More

603 Views

How do you think about shared KPI’s with your engineering team? And what are ones that product teams often miss?

6 Answers

Virgilia Kaur Pruthi (she/her)

Microsoft Principal PM Manager / Product Leader • February 1

Product teams in my opinion consist of product, engineering, and design (at a minimum). With that said, product KPIs should always be shared with engineering since what they are building essentially impacts the KPIs of the product in question. All the work that product teams do should always buil......Read More

334 Views

How would you change a product team/organization to be more KPI driven?

4 Answers

Virgilia Kaur Pruthi (she/her)

Microsoft Principal PM Manager / Product Leader • February 1

What a terrific question! This is one takes time and depending upon your organization will require patience. The best way I have learned, is to ask "why" a particular feature is being prioritized, and the "impact" it is bringing to the customer. The best way to create change is to start with you......Read More

495 Views

how do you think about measuring business impact when your products aren't directly monetized?

4 Answers

Tasha Alfano

Twilio Staff Product Manager, SDKs and Libraries • February 11

I’ve worked with developer focused tooling for almost 7 years so I know exactly what you mean here. On almost every new feature or product our teams put into motion, we have a huge list of factors to consider such as security, legal, or billing. For developer tooling, there’s usually no change to......Read More

574 Views

How do you ensure alignment when you have two senior executive stakeholders who disagree with each other on the proposed strategy and you are stuck in the middle?

12 Answers

Linh Lam

Lattice Group Product Manager • February 17

Oh boy, this one is a doozy. Here's how I generally approach this situation - hoping it helps: * Make sure your manager is aware of the conflict and see how they might be able to support you. Depending on the manager, they might just solve the issue for you. If not, then they may be able......Read More

469 Views

What are some of the best ways to begin becoming a more influential Product Manager?

6 Answers

Linh Lam

Lattice Group Product Manager • February 17

Influence is interesting because it's very much a function of if others are willing to accept your influence. Here are some things I'd recommend doing to get started, but ultimately, your influence depends on the openness of others: * Gain trust from others. To me, this comes from doing your ......Read More

380 Views

How do you walk the line of allowing other teams input into the roadmap without allowing them to dictate roadmap priorities?

2 Answers

Mike Flouton

GitLab VP, Product • July 12

My first principle when it comes to roadmaps is “transparency.” Being transparent about priorities, what’s being prioritized, what’s not being prioritized and WHY makes a massive difference. There are plenty of SaaS solutions that are great for this, but in the old days we used a simple Excel ......Read More

450 Views

I’m the first PM hire in my company. What advice would you give to someone tasked with establishing this function in an existing business structure?

7 Answers

Virgilia Kaur Pruthi (she/her)

Microsoft Principal PM Manager / Product Leader • February 1

Wonderful, congrats! Get into a rhythm by understanding the business/company goals. Then understand how the tech works (look at the customer/user interface first and then make sure you understand how the system behind the UI works). Begin collecting data in a transparent way and share your learn......Read More

555 Views

What framework do you use when assessing a new opportunity at a different company?

7 Answers

Anton Kravchenko

Carta Director of Product Management • February 4

To make the decision, I think of opportunity, ambitions, passion, and time: 1. Opportunity - obviously there is a matter of compensation, but there is also an opportunity for professional growth. For example, joining a startup allows you to grow much quicker -- you will be wearing diffe......Read More

306 Views