105: Transition from Product Manager to Group Product Manager
Nov 22, 2023
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Learn about the challenges and strategies involved in transitioning from a product manager to a group product manager role. Gain insights on building trust, scalability, and aligning team goals. Discover the importance of evaluating and prioritizing meetings, as well as gracefully declining them. Explore the significance of providing a reason when asking for a favor or permission.
Transitioning from a Product Manager to a Group Product Manager involves mastering trust-building, scalability, and aligning team goals.
Being a Group Product Manager requires playing multiple roles, including being an individual contributor (IC) due to resource constraints, and balancing strategic thinking with day-to-day operational challenges.
Deep dives
Transitioning from Product Manager to Group Product Manager
In this episode, Nkem Huonqua shares his experience and insights on transitioning from a Product Manager to a Group Product Manager. Nkem highlights the importance of hard work and adding new skills to your repertoire in order to instill confidence in leadership. He emphasizes the need to work in a company and on a product that is experiencing growth, as this creates opportunities for expanded responsibilities. Nkem also discusses the challenges of letting go of individual contributor (IC) work and transitioning to a managerial role, while still remaining involved in IC tasks. Ultimately, Nkem shares his aspiration to become a serial entrepreneur in the future.
The Role of a Group Product Manager
A Group Product Manager, as defined by Nkem, is a manager of product managers who is responsible for aligning their team's vision with the company's vision. They clear the pathway for their product managers to focus on delivering value to customers and the business. Nkem mentions that being a Group Product Manager often requires playing multiple roles, including being an individual contributor (IC) due to resource constraints. He highlights the importance of scalability, where a Group Product Manager must make themselves and their team more efficient and effective by instilling values, strategies, and tactics. This role requires a balance between strategic thinking and tackling day-to-day operational challenges.
Keys to Success as a Group Product Manager
Nkem shares several keys to his success as a Group Product Manager. First, he emphasizes the need to work hard and make it known that you can handle responsibilities and deliver results. Building trust and demonstrating your capability are crucial. Additionally, Nkem highlights the importance of continually adding new skills to your tool belt as a product manager and actively seeking self-education through reading books, consuming media, and learning on the job. He advises product managers to evaluate their calendars regularly, prune unnecessary meetings to focus on more impactful work, and prioritize being scalable in handling support issues. Lastly, Nkem stresses the importance of working in an organization that is rapidly growing and investing in product areas, as this creates opportunities for career advancement.
If you are looking to transition from product manager to Group Product Manager, you can get advice from Executives in Residence in the Elevate Program. Learn more and apply at https://elevate.info.foster.uw.edu/
In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman welcomes Nkem Nwankwo (Greenhouse Software) to talk about transitioning from PM to group PM. Moving from a PM to a Group PM role involves mastering trust-building, scalability, and aligning team goals. It's a big step that demands leadership growth and effective team management, leading to success in the world of product management. In this episode, you can learn the crucial steps in managing teams and aligning visions for success in a leadership capacity.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
00:00 Intro
03:04 What is a group PM?
04:29 Can group PMs be IC PMs and vice versa?
05:40 Challenges of transitioning to group PM
09:46 What can help or slow you down when you want to become a group PM
15:55 Declining meetings
18:06 Where to learn about group PMs
20:03 Becoming a serial entrepreneur
21:06 What PMs are missing out on?
22:42 Transitioning from PM to Group PM
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