Best of 2021: Getting Into Product Management From a Non-Traditional Background

Today, in the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, Jeff and Red welcome our panel of experts on product management to talk about becoming a product manager coming from a different background. The shift in interest from your educational background or career to becoming a customer-oriented problem solver opens a path to become a great PM. Listen in and join them as they share their minds, experiences, and expertise on what helps aspiring PMs to  successfully join this competitive ecosystem.  

Support for How to Succeed in Product Management is brought to you by Apptentive, which enables product managers to measure shifts in customer emotion and gather actionable feedback across the mobile customer journey. To learn more, go to Apptentive.com/UW.

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:20 PMs from non-traditional background bring in new thinking and perspectives
• 06:15 Learning product management from best practices from a global perspective
• 10:47 True or false: “If you don’t know how to code you can’t be a good PM.” 
• 12:55 Coding may not matter in most environments, it could in smaller startups
• 16:03 Is being a scrum master a traditional path to becoming a PM?
• 18:35 Scrum masters tend to work inside of development chops
• 21:56 UX designers should have an artistic expertise
• 23:50 Try low resolution experimentation, don’t be afraid to try something that looks horrible
• 26:00 An example of low-res that works
• 31:26 The Product Management Life Cycle model
• 33:20 Educate yourself if you want to break into product management
• 34:37 Understand what’s required for the job and what do you have in terms of skills
• 36:54 The language we use differs in different ecosystems
• 39:19 Find out how does a product life cycle work
• 40:09 To connect with companies and industries, tap on the networking side
• 44:10 Managing physical, digital, and software products
• 47:16 Customer care and problem solving opens a path to product management
• 48:43 Stay curious and always ask questions
• 50:11 The person who understand the customers the most matters
• 51:16 Build site projects, invest in networking, and volunteering opportunities