Product Voices

We talk a lot about the hard skills needed in product management - technical knowledge, processes and frameworks, methodologies, financial acumen, etc., but truth be told, soft skills are every bit as important as the hard skills in successfully navigating the PM role. On this episode, Manosai Eerabathini, product manager at Figma, shares his thoughts on:his own journey in product management the most important soft skillshow those skills have evolved throughout his careerhow PMs can find their own style and superpowerLinks to resources mentioned, transcript of the episode, and more at ProductVoices.com. Find more of Manosai's insights on his website TheProductLens.com

In this episode, we are sharing an episode of the Women in Product Podcast - part of their Great PM Books Series. JJ Rorie interviews Radhika Dutt, author of Radical Product Thinking. Learn more at https://www.womenpm.org/wip-podcast or productvoices.com.

The product manager role can be fun, exhilarating, highly rewarding…. and difficult! There are so many cross-functional partners involved, so many moving parts, so many decisions to make. It can be quite difficult at times on our emotions and well-being. This episode is all about the emotional side of PM, something we don’t talk about enough.Nicole Daines, product leader at Rosie, joins the podcast to share her insights on:navigating the day-to-day of the product manager role.dealing with ambiguity and not always having a clear directionmanaging stakeholder engagement without getting burned outhandling the 'meh' daysavoiding assigning our self-worth to our work (good or bad)

Roadmaps are always a hot topic in product management. How to best use roadmaps? What should they represent? How to best connect them to strategy? Who should be involved with creating them? With whom should we share them? There aren’t that many teams and organizations that have really mastered the creation and use of roadmaps. On this episode, Navya Rehani Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Peek, shares her unique approach to roadmap planning and communication.

There are few things more important in product management than communication. Product is an inherently cross-functional discipline that requires product teams to constantly communicate about all aspects of the product, the customer, the workstreams ongoing within the org. Effective communication is bedrock to success. One aspect of communication - and connecting with audiences - is storytelling. Storytelling is a powerful tool in a product manager’s toolbox.Colleen Graneto, Product Manager at Airbnb and product coach and instructor, joins to podcast to share insights on how to improve our storytelling skills and use stories to engage internal partners and communicate the customer narrative.Colleen shares wonderful examples and resources including Airbnb's ‘Snow White’ Storyboards - video 1 - article 1 - article 2. Learn more at ProductVoices.com.

Organizations and product teams are always striving to improve. To optimize their operations, their structure, their workflows, and the ways in which the teams work. There are myriad “best practices” that can be deployed, and it’s sometimes quite difficult to know what is the best next change to make. What is the thing that if we improve upon, it will make the biggest impact. That is not always easy to pinpoint.On this episode, Holly Hester-Reilly, the Founder and CEO of H2R Product Science, discusses how to know what the right next step is when applying best practices, using the the Product Science Principles: evidence-based product strategy, continuous discovery and delivery, and empowered teams. 

A lot of people have been moving jobs over the past couple of years. The average tenure of a product manager seems to be shortening. Moving companies and even industries can be a good thing for someone’s career. New employees can bring new viewpoints, experiences, and an invigorating energy to the organization. But companies also must ensure that new product managers get onboarded and integrated into the team and culture as soon as possible.This episode is all about how to successfully onboard product managers. Mirela Mus, founder of Product People, a product management consultancy with 42 full-time PMs who help serve interims in Europe's top product companies, brings her unique perspective on this topic.Learn tips on how to onboard product managers effectively and how to measure successful onboarding. Plus hear examples of great and not-so-great onboarding.Find the episode transcript and more at ProductVoices.com. Learn more about Product People at GetProductPeople.com.

In product management, we are on a constant learning journey. We are never really “done”. We’ve never learned everything there is. We never become absolutely perfect at a skill or mindset. There is always something to improve upon. And that can be quite tiring and frankly even difficult for our mental health.This episode is about that continuous learning path of the product manager and the toll it can take on mental health. JJ Rorie is joined by Tiffany Chang, who leads a Product Management team at a B2B supply chain startup based in Toronto, Canada.Tiffany shares her journey into product management, how she realized the constant learning journey can be fun but difficult, and ways she has learned to navigate the role and her well-being.  It's an inspirational and honest account of the highs and lows of the role.Learn more at ProductVoices.com.

Product management is a career where we constantly learn and evolve, which isn’t always easy. We often must get out of our comfort zone to learn new things and build new skills.In this episode, Mudassir Mustafa, co-founder of Capabl, shares his journey into product management - from working on oil rigs to constructing commercial buildings to working in tech and product. It is an inspirational story of perseverance and pushing through comfort zones to build a fulfilling career.Learn more at ProductVoices.com and MudassirMustafa.com.

What do all great product managers have in common, regardless of industry, type of product, or company environment? In this episode, we discuss the 5 immutable truths of great product managers.  They have exceptionally high customer intelligence.They are experts at building relationships.They are master communicators.They have uncommonly good judgment.They are fanatical about prioritizing their time.While these are not the only skills a product manager needs, they form the foundation from which to pull in order to navigate the chaotic and rewarding world of product management. Learn more at GreatProductManagement.com or ProductVoices.com.These immutable truths are discussed in detail in JJ Rorie's book IMMUTABLE, which can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, or other major online book retailers.