How To Succeed In Product Management | Jeffrey Shulman, Red Russak & Soumeya Benghanem

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Murtaza Chowdhury (Amazon Web Services) to discuss Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) - a goal-setting framework for outlining and planning product objectives up to the targeted results. OKR helps product managers plan and create frameworks which are shared within the team to set clear goals to align all efforts.    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 00:42 Objective and Key Results (OKRs) and the need for alignment for outcomes and defining them 05:24 The benefits of the OKR approach 08:32 Have an objective that speaks for the company vision 11:53 Set a vision but don’t be too tactical in your approach  15:25 A sense of priority among the OKRs  19:22 Setting the objectives and key results 24:56 Everyone in the team is involved in the product team 26:44 OKR should be broken down into organizational level, team level, and then micro-teams level 28:34 Everyone working on the team has a say on the product development 31:04 User stories are what ties everything together 35:23 Solving team problems through prioritization and alignment 40:16 Everyone in the team is involved in creating the OKR 44:06 Should PMs stay in the background and let micro-teams solve the problem? 48:45 The 3 elements of an effective OKR 51:08 Set objectives that are futuristic, inspirational, and highly ambitious 52:47 Use OKRs with purpose

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Nora Tan (Color) to talk about product development. For PMs, there are three phases that every product development must go through -- discovery, framing, and iteration. The question is, which phase is the most important?   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 08:52 Product development process, from idea to shipment 15:35 Phases of development process: discovery, framing, iteration    22:32 How do you find a good product manager? 25:54 The velocity that you’re moving in 31:17 Helpful frameworks for product development 39:36 Working in pods 45:53 How teams will work best 52:21 Keep learning more, talk to other PMs

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Martie K. Burris (Salesforce) to discuss product management interview strategies. To land the best PM role in the best company, you have to master the art of acing any and all product management interviews. Listen in to the techniques experienced PMs use, their strategies that have worked, and their proven and tested frameworks.   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 02:10 The Inclusive Product Management Accelerator program 06:10 PM interviews have evolved over time 09:11 What is the purpose of a PM interview? 13:36 Lead PM interviews focus more on the strategy   14:48 The type of questions to prepare for 17:25 Find resources and practice with other people 20:14 The Do’s and Don’ts of PM interview 24:20 Summarize your answer at the end 26:03 Your framework should be your natural thought process  31:01 How to handle rejection 33:47 Is MBA a necessary requirement? 39:55 Strategies to get into the right interview 45:43 Interview people with empathy and listen more  48:45 Be mindful that people are trying to understand your thought process

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Poorvi Shrivastav (HubSpot) to talk about how to smoothly transition from being an individual contributor to a leadership role. Aside from the tips and guides one can learn and practice while in transition, never lose focus on putting people first.     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 01:29 Transition from an individual contributor (IC) to Manager 07:43 Who directly reports to you? 08:51 The biggest transition from being an IC to a manager 11:02 3 things you need to succeed in the management role 16:20 Be very clear about the credit that belongs to you 20:13 Tips on how to transition in your first few days 25:29 Focus on outcome, but think about the process too 31:11 How to ace an interview for a leadership role 41:20 When you start leading a team that you are part of 47:38 How do you manage delegation? 50:00 Transition from an IC to management course 52:02 Focus on people first

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Ted Dworkin (Sonos) to talk about strengthening the relationships between the PM and the sales and marketing team. PMs are dependent on the collection of data to be able to develop and improve a product, while sales and marketing has direct contact with customers and what they truly need. Therefore, the collaboration between these organizations is crucial to the overall success of any product or service.   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 01:52 How product managers and executives interface with sales and marketing organizations within the company 04:56 Becoming part of the sale force and being customer centric 10:35 Embedding conversations into the product development process 15:32 Having an established sales motion 19:50 The difference between B2B and B2C 22:50 Balance between doing sales and product market fit 30:13 The responsibilities of a product marketing manager  34:32 PMs collaborating with the marketing counterparts 38:22 How often is the core team talking about customer data? 42:22 Accept and look at all internal data 47:54 Hire the people with the right skillset 51:31 Take full advantage of building relationships with marketing and sales 52:53 Continue conversations with sales people 55:37 Sales and product should be hanging out often

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Soumeya Benghanem welcome Tatyana Mamut (Pendo.io) and Nitin T Bhat (Smartsheet) to talk about initiating organizational change. The best way to create change is to work together and to be able to effectively do this, we all must learn how to lift each other up. Success is only possible when everyone on the team succeeds in their individual journey.   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 03:29 Creating organizational change and effectiveness? 04:51 Cross group collaboration model makes a successful team 08:59 Allowing different behavior to be possible and rewarded 14:38 Getting bandwidth to create experiments and new ideas 20:21 Working together for a vision of the world 24:13 To initiate change, everyone in the team should lift each other up 26:10 The environment of psychological safety 31:16 Why do we celebrate failure? 36:16 Good product managers has great judgement 38:32 Building product sense and judgement 43:33 The ability to influence without authority 49:20 How to set up organizational interactions and collaborations? 54:47 The ability to disagree and debate is integral 55:14 Leaders also need positive feedback and validation

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 Justin Kistner (Upfocus) and Rebekah Bastian (OwnTrail) to talk about product managers starting out in startup companies. Whether it’s a small startup with five people or a bigger company with a lot of manpower, the roles product managers take depend on the scope of their responsibilities. What counts most is the experience they acquire and the skills they learn along the way.   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 08:05 Smaller companies tend to deal with the runway flexibility 11:17 A good PM is a way of problem solving 12:50 What makes it fun being a product manager? 15:14 Experience the job first before handing over the tasks to others 19:29 PM role templates are more established in bigger companies 21:15 When PMs forget how to take on higher roles 25:02 As your career grows, your scope grows  30:08 There’s no single path to being a good PM 33:39 New PMs often work in smaller companies 36:16 Depending on startup, people will look for an experienced PM 40:27 Who makes the decision depends on the size of the company 45:22 You can learn skills and earn experience even if a startup fails 48:30 Global community outside of the US 52:33 Don’t get disheartened, you’ll figure it out 54:33 Your lived experiences is going to make you a good PM

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

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 Ariel Dos Santos (Peloton Interactive) to talk about storytelling. Apart from collecting data to qualify and quantify a product being developed, it is also important to tell stories based on data so everyone on the team is aware and onboard the production plan.    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 04:16 Storytelling is an important tool in a PM’s toolkit 08:58 The SUCCESS framework   12:15 With storytelling, you become a lawyer, a detective, and a dreamer 13:42 The four types of story we tell 17:20 We want the customer to be the center of every story 19:37 Part of storytelling is giving space for people to react and to ask questions 22:47 Data is used to tell stories 24:20 Qualitative or quantitative data? 28:42 Observe and talk to several people to gather data over time 31:28 Demo-driven questions from the target audience 40:00 Which matters more for PMs, quant or qual 42:21 When initial inputs are in, you turn to quant 44:18 How qualitative data works 48:21 It depends where you’re at in the maturity of your product 50:45 You’ll get better at storytelling over time 52:14 Treat every interaction as an opportunity to experiment   

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 Wade Pinder (Mainline), Ana Maria Garcia (The Home Depot), Carol Tyger (Vivante Health), and Martie K. Burris (Salesforce) to talk about strengthening mentorship. For new PMs, finding the right mentor is essential while learning the foundations and disciplines of product management, therefore, it is important to take note that forming a genuine connection between the mentor and mentee is the root of all successful mentorships.   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 07:50 The three types of mentors 10:43 How do you find the perfect mentor? 12:13 Asking someone to mentor you is a huge commitment 16:15 How do you reject a mentee? 22:28 The best type of mentor-mentee relationship is the informal type 25:33 Finding some sort of personal connection makes relationships last 28:08 How do you decide whether to take somebody on as a mentee?    31:54 How to make sure that the mentor-mentee relationship runs smoothly 35:46 Look for frameworks for prioritization and discipline 40:36 PMs should know about the ins and outs of product management 43:13 The difference between a mentor and a sponsor 47:33 Once you learn the discipline, you can be any type of PM 50:47 It’s important to find a mentor early on in your career 52:17 Go back to the fundamentals when communicating 55:04 Mentorship is helping people identify their blind spots  57:20 Transparency is key and always share your intentions