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Product Management 30/60/90 Day Plan
Product Management Career Path
Product Management Interviews
Product Management Skills
Product Management Skills
1 Answer
Milena Krasteva
Walmart Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology • June 9
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
1815 Views
3 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of Product • February 9
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, stak......Read More
680 Views
4 Answers
Milena Krasteva
Walmart Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology • October 7
A CEO once told me that he would only hire a person if he thought that he would enjoy the time spent with that person despite being stuck at an airport with them waiting to board an indefinitely delayed flight. Despite the exaggeration, I've always imagined the equivalent scenario as whether engi......Read More
512 Views
9 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of Product • February 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
836 Views
How have you dealt with possible overlaps between Product Managers, Business Owners and Marketing?
I was just reading an article by Marty Cagan about the scenario of Business Owners "versus" Product Managers, especially for companies using a matrix organization. Now, I'm living in a similar situation, and not only in the case of Business Owners, but it seems that depending on the side of the organization, the scope of Product Managers is divided more than expected, causing various types of issues. So, I'm curious if other companies, big or small, have also had to deal with this. Here's the link to the article: https://www.svpg.com/product-managers-vs-business-owners/
1 Answer
Casey Flinn
Realtor.com Sr. Director, Product Operations • July 26
Ah yes, I remember this article :) I think the key point Marty makes is "Things go wrong when these two roles are not clearly defined." There are two aspects of "defined" to work out here. From a management and org structure perspective, there needs to be definition of who is accountable for what......Read More
417 Views
What are the most important product management skills or perspectives that others inside an organization could benefit from that would improve their day to day?
Running a "Think Like a Product Manager" course next month and would love to hear others'
2 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product Management • March 14
Your team size, overall organization dynamic, and product maturity all shape the skills you need to improve day-to-day operations. Distilling to the basics, I'd go with the following: * Customer Focus: PMs who put the customer at the center of their decision-making process often help other d......Read More
451 Views
5 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of Product • February 9
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 anyo......Read More
581 Views
3 Answers
Melissa Ushakov
GitLab Group Manager, Product Management • March 7
There are a couple of things that make some candidates stand out from the rest: * User-focused: The most successful product managers are those that think deeply about people and want to understand them to build great products. Product managers should have contact with end users in some ca......Read More
564 Views
4 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of Product • February 9
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 yo......Read More
416 Views
3 Answers
Having worked in Product in completely opposite contexts, the most valuable soft and hard skills depend on several factors, including product maturity, organizational maturity, availability of supporting functions (e.g., Product Operations, Product Analysts, etc.), and company cultural norms. ......Read More
960 Views