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Lizzy Masotta

Senior Product Lead, Shopify

About

Currently leading product teams at Shopify building and evolving the best converting checkout on the planet. Previously Salesforce (0 --> 1 new products for small business and B2C use cases), Google (Cloud Platform early days pre-product GA), Nest......more

Content

What framework(s) do you use to evaluate how to differentiate your product?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • March 29

There are 2 exercises I use to evaluate bringing differentiation into the products I'm building. 1. What sucks? 2. User value mapping Where they originated I came up with these frameworks in collaboration with Paul Pedrazzi (SVP, Salesforce) while we were working on a 0 → 1 product for small......Read More

1101 Views

What are the most common mistakes you see candidates make during an interview for a product management position?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • July 26

There are 2 main types of interviews for Product Management roles: 1. Product case interviews 2. Behavioral interviews (by cross functional partners like UX or Engineering, or by the hiring manager) With either interview type, the surest path to failure is when a candidate shows up and wa......Read More

1084 Views

As we expand our product portfolio, when does it make sense to start building functionality that products that we partner with offer?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • March 29

I love this question. Through my work at both Salesforce and Shopify this is something that comes up regularly because of our platform and healthy partner ecosystem. 1. Do the majority of my users need this? 2. Are there problems with the partner meeting the needs of users today? 3. Do we ha......Read More

997 Views

What role do engineers have in planning which features you build in the sprint? How do I get buy-in without giving them control?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • November 17

Engineers are part of your squad. They should be in the room for Problem Shaping, Live Prototyping, and Fresh Eyes. You should review your problem backlog regularly with your engineers and get their input and feedback. —Influence is the curiosity to get to the best solution— and engineers will......Read More

934 Views

What is your end-to-end product development process?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • November 17

I don’t believe in a universal end-to-end product development process. I believe there are key rituals and elements that should be present on every team to ensure great outcomes, but each team needs to tailor the development process to their unique situation. My must-have product development e......Read More

921 Views

What do product managers get wrong about product differentiation?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • March 29

The most common mistake is to not think about it at all. It can be so challenging to get a product built and shipped at your company that Product Managers naturally become very internally focused. They have dependencies to manage across other teams, they have timeline pressure from leadership,......Read More

907 Views

When is it the appropriate time for QA? Who is responsible for quality when working in such a small team?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • November 17

Work in the open. Create a culture on your team that encourages sharing unfinished work and working live together. This will drive the highest quality bar for your team. If you wait until the end of development to QA too many problems will be compounded. Some rituals I use to encourage a high ......Read More

904 Views

What are some of the most common red flags you've come across either on a candidate's resume or initial interview that you'd advise future product managers to avoid?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • July 26

Interview Red Flags 1. During a Product Case Interview – If your interviewer is having to guide you through each section or prompt you with several follow up questions, that’s not a good thing. 2. If a candidate clearly has never used the product (hint: always sign up for the produ......Read More

877 Views

Our product does something completely different than another product in the market, but we often get grouped together? Is this a product problem? Marketing problem?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • March 29

Start by analyzing why this might be happening. It’s a key signal that shouldn’t be ignored, and needs further digging to understand what’s behind it. Is there a misperception of your brand? Is there a misunderstanding of the product offering? Are you missing features? Is there a lack of aware......Read More

872 Views

As a hiring manager, what do the best product management candidates have in common?

Lizzy Masotta

Shopify Senior Product Lead • July 26

1. They teach you something in the interview I once interviewed a woman who had extensive experience working for a telecommunications company. I have zero experience in telco – aside from being a customer of Verizon Wireless. I walked out of that interview having learned so much about telco com......Read More

869 Views

Credentials & Highlights

Senior Product Lead at Shopify

Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems