Product Management Career Path

12 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of ProductFebruary 9
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 i......Read More
1157 Views
3 Answers
Natalia Baryshnikova
Natalia Baryshnikova
Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise AgilityNovember 9
Your ability to create value quickly will depend on how quickly you can identify the problems and gaps in ways your organization operates today, and demonstrate progress towrds fixing them. Here's how you can do that: 1. When you join an organization, schedule introductory 1-1s with a wide ......Read More
2325 Views
1 Answer
Subu Baskaran
Subu Baskaran
Splunk Director of Product ManagementFebruary 13
If you are an entry-level product manager or a first-time PM switching from a different function, executing a feature end-to-end is the best place to start. During execution, one can learn system behavior and develop necessary POVs, such as user behavior and the jobs-to-be-done for the persona. D......Read More
482 Views
3 Answers
Natalia Baryshnikova
Natalia Baryshnikova
Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise AgilityNovember 9
My personal acronym for the skills that make product managers succesfull is H.A.C.K. H for Humility. There are two particularly important benefits of humility. First, humble people better navigate the emotional roller coaster of being wrong and having to admit it. They quickly recover from sit......Read More
2704 Views
10 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product ManagementFebruary 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
1173 Views
7 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product ManagementFebruary 2
There are different paths that each product manager takes, but the common ones I've seen are: 1. Joining a tech company as an Associate PM or an intern straight from college. For college grads, I suggest starting by connecting with other product managers (e.g. via LinkedIn) to better understand......Read More
598 Views
2 Answers
Natalia Baryshnikova
Natalia Baryshnikova
Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise AgilityFebruary 16
There are three aspects to selling this well:  1. Empathy. You have to start with acknowledging the validity of a need or ask. Folks often skip that step and go straight to rebuttal. Don't do that - you need to empathize with the stakeholder, understand where they are coming from and really pond......Read More
811 Views
5 Answers
Natalia Baryshnikova
Natalia Baryshnikova
Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise AgilityFebruary 16
First thing to do is to check with your manager how they think about your growth. They may be thinking that they are helping you, and it is just your perspectives that are misaligned. Ask them about their definition next level of growth for you (see answer above about growing skills for details),......Read More
559 Views
5 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product ManagementFebruary 2
Leveling up to Dr level meant being a point of contact for many people at the company, which meant more inquiries from sales, customers, leadership, and other product teams. Since I got promoted, my inbox and # of slack messages doubled :)  My learning from this experience is that you want to do......Read More
590 Views
4 Answers
Melissa Ushakov
Melissa Ushakov
GitLab Group Manager, Product ManagementMarch 7
Domain experience is not at the top of the list of things I look for in a candidate. I have changed domains a couple of times in my career and it has helped me get a richer perspective. For this reason, I prefer to see some variety in product management candidates.  Domain experience can be a ......Read More
709 Views