In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Ayodele Duyile (Google) and Ajith Prabhakara (Amazon) to talk about transitioning. Product managers often shift careers and when they do, they undergo different transition phases to get familiar with the role and ultimately manage the product development process.

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
02:02 The importance of proper transitioning
09:04 Work on building trust and on your listening skills
10:50 Have a 30-60-90 day goal
13:34 Setting expectations between the manager and PMs
15:24 Are product managers the CEO of the product?
19:39 PM roles differ from one company to another
22:13 Should PMs be the chief empathy officer?
27:57 The Dos and Don’ts when you transition to a new product
38:40 Set personal goals for your personal success
42:21 How do you develop effective questions?
46:14 The Five Why PMs need to focus
47:42 Leveraging data to drive the product
49:54 Engaging with people to gather an outsider’s perspective
52:52 There’s always a transition coming up in your career
53:38 Always take things step by step
55:30 How you measure success changes over time

23: How Product Managers Transition Into a New Role