Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Mastering product strategy and growing as a PM | Maggie Crowley (Toast, Drift, Tripadvisor)

Nov 5, 2023

Maggie Crowley, VP of Product at Toast and former leader at Drift and TripAdvisor, shares her insights on excelling in product management. She emphasizes the critical traits of successful PMs, such as simplification and proactive communication. Maggie provides a step-by-step guide to crafting impactful product strategies while cautioning against being overly data-driven. She also discusses the personal and professional growth that comes from content creation, highlighting the importance of authenticity in building a career.

01:22:33

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Episode guests

Maggie Crowley

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Quick takeaways

Taking initiative and being willing to do tasks outside of your designated role can lead to faster progress and greater success.

As a product manager, it is important to keep the team motivated and excited about the project, which requires maintaining optimism and addressing challenges with a positive attitude.

The best product managers excel at simplifying complex problems, have the ability to stay focused on important tasks, and are willing to take on any necessary work, including the hard and unglamorous tasks.

Deep dives

The importance of taking initiative

Taking initiative and being willing to do tasks outside of your designated role can lead to faster progress and greater success.

The Importance of Communication, Analytical Ability, and Impact for Product Managers

01:19

Product One-pager as PM's Artifact

01:59

The Value of Sharing Basic Knowledge and Experiences

01:47

Simplifying Communication: Using the Minto Principle and Limiting Docs

01:21

Intro

4min

Essential Skills for Successful Product Managers

18min

Navigating Product Management Success

22min

Harnessing Experimentation for Effective Product Strategy

2min

Navigating Product Strategy Challenges

20min

Harnessing Authenticity in Content Creation

11min

Personal Favorites and Insights on Product Functionality

3min

The Journey of Dedication: Insights from a Small Sport Athlete

2min

Connecting with the Guest and Career Opportunities

2min

Maggie Crowley is VP of product at Toast and previously vice president and head of product at Charlie Health, senior director of product management at Drift, and a PM at TripAdvisor. She’s also the host of Build, a podcast dedicated to product and product management. In today’s conversation, Maggie shares:

• The value of building a broad-based PM skill set

• Three qualities of the best product managers

• A step-by-step guide for crafting a product strategy

• How to break into PM

• Why great writing is often just simplifying your writing

• Why being too data-driven is a red flag

• The impact of content creation on Maggie’s career

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Brought to you by Productroadmap.ai—AI to connect your roadmaps to revenue | Composer—the AI-powered trading platform | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/mastering-product-strategy-and-growing-as-a-pm-maggie-crowley-toast-drift-tripadvisor/

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Where to find Maggie Crowley:

• X: https://twitter.com/maggiecrowley

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-crowley-42a97112/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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