Product Management Skills

13 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
1258 Views
5 Answers
Adrianne Wang Martinson
Adrianne Wang Martinson
Airbnb Head of Product, China PlatformMay 13
There is no doubt that retaining top talent is critical to any organization not only because of the value top talent brings, but also because it takes time to find and ramp up a new hire. While establishing a new team, hiring the right person who is a good fit for the team and the company contrib......Read More
1550 Views
3 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of ProductFebruary 9
1. Understand what about product management is interesting to you 2. Research roles and opportunities that speak to what you find interesting 3. Identify the gaps in your skills or experience  4. Fill those gaps :) Take a course, read, volunteer to build something. 5. Network and build a grou......Read More
900 Views
5 Answers
Melissa Ushakov
Melissa Ushakov
GitLab Group Manager, Product ManagementMarch 8
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
837 Views
6 Answers
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Mamuna Oyofo, MBA
Shopify VP of ProductFebruary 9
There is definitely a fine line here. Every decision cannot be data driven and will likely be informed to some extent BUT part of the excitment of product management is leaning on that intuition. In some cases, you will have data to back up your assumptions and in others you will not. Every situa......Read More
895 Views
2 Answers
Boris Logvinsky
Boris Logvinsky
Vanta VP ProductDecember 13
Perhaps a contrarian take, but technical skills aren't the most critical for the majority of PM roles out there, except for deeply technical products or platform positions. For the general PM role, it's much more important to demonstrate your ability to delve into customer problems, set strategy,......Read More
1149 Views
5 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product ManagementFebruary 4
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
1916 Views
4 Answers
Vasanth Arunachalam
Vasanth Arunachalam
Meta Director, Technical Program ManagementAugust 11
I’m assuming the question is about setting a ‘team’ vision/mission and one doesn’t exist yet. The mission statement is the “What” and the vision statement is an ambitious future state of what the world might look like when you accomplish your mission. A crisp vision/mission statement serves as a......Read More
2101 Views
3 Answers
Apurva Garware
Apurva Garware
Upwork VP Product and GMApril 28
1. Ability to communicate well - Someone told me early in my career: The single most important PM skill he looks for when hiring a PM is communication. Communication is really a proxy for building trust, driving alignment, having healthy debates when there’s conflict and committing t......Read More
6442 Views
3 Answers
Anton Kravchenko
Anton Kravchenko
Carta Sr. Director of Product ManagementMarch 15
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
678 Views