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Milena Krasteva

Milena Krasteva

Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
I’ve been told that my style reminds some of Radical Candor. I guess I have to read the book now :) In the meantime I can tell you what my values are and how I strive to be: 1) A servant leader 2) ...more

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Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
I get a lot of critical feedback from my boss and I don't always know what to do with it or how to improve. Sometimes I don't even agree with the feedback. How should I do when I don't think the feedback is correct?
Even when feedback seems completely unfair, there may be some small nugget to pay attention to. So, in general don't dismiss the feedback without some introspection. Giving objective feedback is actually hard to do; most people can't distinguish between whether it is their own pet peeves that are...more
6 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
What made you decide to choose Product Management over Product Marketing?
The two disciplines are very different, despite some intersections on go-to-market, outbound communications, and occasional blurred lines between the roles in some companies regarding strategy and customer requirements. Early on in my career I had the opportunity to simultaneously work in both fu...more
4 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
What are mistakes product managers make when trying to get buy in for their roadmap that end up damaging stakeholder relationships?
It seems all too easy to NOT get roadmap buy-in. Sometimes, it can feel like the default answer is always "No" at first, and despite all the work you have done, you are getting sent back to the drawing board. Some things that help, not in any particular order: * Go as wide as possible early ...more
8 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
What is the most underrated soft skill of a high performing PM?
I'd love to answer this in a slightly different way: The single most important skill, that cannot be rated highly enough is Communication. Many other soft skills are fundamentally still rooted in or are dependent on communication.  Nuanced aspects of communication also matter: * adapting com...more
4 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
How can someone from a different field like engineering transition to product management?
Fairly easily potentially, compared to transitioning from other less-related fields. Product Management is as much art as it is discipline or science. Leveraging technical expertise related to the same or adjacent PM area helps. Some job descriptions will even require engineering experience or ar...more
4 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
When joining a new team, is it better to have the right soft skills and have to learn the hard skills of the job? Or vice versa?
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....more
5 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
Advice to a new TPM? What are some common mistakes new TPMs make?
Many common mistakes stem from haste without deep knowledge and mindless GSDing. * Not thinking through the problem statement fully or not knowing enough about the domain and becoming married to 1 solution - often yours. * Taking it personally when told that something is missing from your s...more
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Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
What is the right PM to Eng ratio? I’m the first PM and we have 8 engineers and 1 Designer.
1:10 is what has been used as a rule of thumb in my experience. A PM wears many hats. If you don't have a program manager (pgm/tpm) 30% - 40% of the PM's time may be going into project management activities and you may need an extra PM (or your first TPM) You may be supplementing other functions ...more
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Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
Building real differentiation can take time. How do you get your exec team onboard with investing in more strategic product investments?
If your exec team has not articulated a credible product strategy it could be that they don't know how or they feel that they cannot invest at this time due to much bigger near term issues or constraints. Consider what that might be saying about the viability of the company either way, and a pote...more
2 Saves
Milena Krasteva
Milena Krasteva
Sr Director II, Product Management, Walmart
We have a competitor that copies our features, and often says they can do the same thing as us, even if they cannot. How do you approach this?
While it may be tempting to get sucked into feature by feature wars and spar through marketing communications it will not yield much for whoever (you or the competito) lacks sources of Sustainable Competitive Advantage. see related answer on what those are, not to be confused with Competitive Adv...more
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Credentials & Highlights
Sr Director II, Product Management at Walmart
Product Management AMA Contributor
Product Management Soft and Hard Skills
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