Learn from some of the best product managers in the world through conversations hosted by The Product Management Center at the University of Washington. In each episode, Jeff Shulman, Red Russak, and Soumeya Benghanem dive into the tools, frameworks, and thought processes that will help drive success in product management.
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How To Succeed In Product Management | Jeffrey Shulman, Red Russak & Soumeya Benghanem
137 Subscribers
Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 Based on 7 reviews
Arlie K
5 out of 5 stars
Guarantee your success... tune in!
How to Succeed in Product Management? Listen to this show! Every episode offers compelling conversations, actionable takeaways, and key insights from the brightest minds in product. Don't miss it!
Peace Lily 6
5 out of 5 stars
Quality content
Pod provides quality content for application in product management
justinkistner
5 out of 5 stars
Epicenter of the Seattle product management community
The show consistently hosts product managers from successful startups to the top tech companies in the world. They cover a wide range of product topics. It’s ideal for people who want to get better at product management.
osehT87
5 out of 5 stars
Amazing
Truly grateful for the thoughtfulness put into this show. Really appreciate everyone that participates in putting this together. Thank you
A Future PM
5 out of 5 stars
Must Listen!
I am learning so much from the top-notch PMs who share their wisdom every week. Love it.
sobehounds
5 out of 5 stars
Great minds and panelists
Great coverage on real life reflection on how to succeed in product management. Thank you for making this available for those of us who sometimes miss these conversations!
BVS Hush
5 out of 5 stars
Great listen!
As a consumer, I think it’s insightful to see things from the product management side. These guys present thought provoking topics. Thanks!
Podcast information
- Amount of episodes
- 88
- Subscribers
- 137
- Verified
- No
- Website
- Explicit content
- No
- Episode type
- episodic
- Podcast link
- https://podvine.com/link/..
- Last upload date
- January 25, 2023
- Last fetch date
- January 31, 2023 7:59 AM
- Upload range
- WEEKLY
- Author
- Jeff Shulman, Red Russak & Soumeya Benghanem
- Copyright
- Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
susbcribers
- 72: Product Managing Internal ToolsIn 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 Charles Stewart (Autodesk) and Dimple Singhania (Walmart) as they discuss product managing internal tools. PMs should know about the internal tools that companies use to help automate workflows, store data information for security, and connect the different organizations in a company like marketing or finance. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 09:42 Measuring success when building an internal tool 11:25 Associate satisfaction 12:38 Building a common language for people to use 14:05 Think about the employee experience 16:18 Take into account the consistency of human behavior 18:28 Communication channels for PMs 22:03 Creating a tool that works for the entire enterprise 24:19 Taking a product market mindset to internal tools 26:08 Build vs. buy 32:09 Competitive advantage in terms of build vs. buy 34:15 Compatibility with your own already built or bought tools 38:45 Product shift 42:23 Pushing forward with the modernization approach 45:52 The friction unique to internal tools 48:37 Final thoughts1 comments1
- 71: Making Customer Obsession a Cross-Functional PracticeIn this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman welcomes Darlene Miranda (DailyPay) as they discuss how to make customer obsession as a cross-functional practice. PMs gather data from their customers to help in product improvement and development, but how can a PM let everyone in the organization join this customer obsession? Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 03:28 Customer obsession 04:55 How customer obsessed are you? 06:35 When PMs don’t do enough to make a customer obsession a cross-functional 08:08 Being obsessed with two different types of customers 10:20 Engineering in customer obsession 13:38 Marketing 15:16 Customer obsession from the support function 17:17 Tools and frameworks 21:05 The role of customer support 23:52 What is unique about customer obsession? 26:10 An organization that will help you become customer obsessed 28:05 Cross-functional practice in the early stages of a startup 31:22 How to know if a company is customer obsessed 33:58 Operations functions to maintain customer obsession 36:14 Security and fraud 38:48 Resources for making customer obsession a cross-functional practice 40:55 Final thoughts0 comments0
- Best of 2021: Build Your Product Management Career Around EmpathyIn 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 Kevin Shah (T-Mobile) and Lisa Huang-North (Microsoft) to discuss why product managers need empathy when communicating with customers and while building their career, as well as finding the balance between being empathetic and product success. 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 03:53 Empathy also matters in how you manage your career 07:36 Do you understand where you are in your personal journey? 10:13 We suffer from survivor bias 13:33 The lack of empathy to certain stakeholders or groups can show up in the execution 16:12 Don’t focus on the persona and characteristics, focus on the needs and problems 22:15 Data communication depends on the channels already established 24:48 What’s important to users vs what’s important to the company 27:16 Try to understand where the misalignment is happening 28:06 Come back to the pain points you’re trying to address 31:03 Feeling empowered and having an authentic PM mindset 34:10 An executive does not understand the customers as well as the PMs do 38:53 Myth: “I’m not a great sales person and that’s why I think I’ll be a great PM.” 43:02 Best relationship between sales and products are centered around culture 44:56 Product managers are artists and creators 49:19 Logically group your community and dedicate different efforts on each segment 56:17 Empathy is your superpower 57:49 Recommended resources for PMs to get better at being empathetic 01:01:16 Drawing a balance between empathy and profitability 01:04:23 Product management is a contact sport and also a team sport 01:09:45 Own the job and be resolute with your standards 01:11:34 You don’t have to love something, but you have to be really curious about it1 comments1
- Best of 2021: Transitioning from an Individual Contributor to a ManagerIn 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 first0 comments0
- Best of 2021: Finding Clarity and Creating AlignmentIn 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 Josh Haftel (Adobe) and Ben Waddle (Expedia) to talk about creating a product out of an idea by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable ones for a faster turn around and quickly get customer feedback, and how product managers need to work with their team instead of managing it. 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 01:10 A PMs job is finding clarity and then creating alignment 06:35 The Discovery and Framing framework 09:58 Always start at the fundamentals 15:01 Take the big things down and break them down 17:47 Fail quickly then go into future iterations 19:53 What kind of experimentation should you be doing? 25:31 Pick a problem that you might have some passion for 28:12 Come up with hypotheses about why something's going to work versus why it's not going to work 30:39 Look for skills that your team currently don’t have 33:34 Understand who you need to influence and tailor your work products accordingly 38:38 Start with what outcomes matter to the audience you’re speaking to 42:52 The fastest way to get something into the hands of the customers 45:30 Break down big assumptions into smaller ones 50:23 Partner with your team to arrive at the best solution 52:55 As a product manager, you don’t manage anybody0 comments0
- 70: Best Practices During DiscoveryIn 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 Charles Wartemberg (Netflix) and Pamela Fleury (Harvard) as they discuss the best practices during discovery. Gathering feedback and data from customers is very important in managing products so a good PM should be able to know how to get this data and implement it for product improvement. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 06:31 How much time to spend on discovery? 10:30 Recommended resource about discovery work 15:16 The alignment and getting everyone on the same page 18:27 Leveraging product sense 21:03 What does discovery look like in a lot of customer environments? 22:52 Truly understanding the why versus seeing how the market responds 33:59 A product inside a product 40:30 Product marketing team working with the overall marketing team 44:54 Career in product management 53:56 Final thoughts1 comments1
- 69: How Human-Centered Design & Engineering Can Help Product Managers SucceedIn 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 Julie Seto (Microsoft) and Aneesha Kommineni (Google) as they discuss how human-centered design and engineering can help PMs. Learning more about HCDE is one of the important skills a good PM should have because it lets PMs better understand what the people need and help make a more efficient design. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 06:31 How is HCDE related to other concepts 08:15 Similarities and differences 11:17 Tips for hiring people who have different biases 13:21 Combine different research methodologies 15:06 Design culturally neutral experiences 15:55 Why is human centered design important to learn? 19:20 The use of HCDE in your job 25:33 Tension between human centered design and business objectives 30:02 Differences in applying HCDE in a B2B vs B2C product 37:50 Considering geographical and cultural aspects while designing the product in enterprise 41:50 Resource or bootcamp recommendations 44:44 When someone says no about your human centered design feature 47:52 Universal design vs human centered design 49:06 Final thoughts1 comments1
- 68: Customer Interview Best PracticesIn 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 Jennifer McGill Walker (Pearson) and Chris Hess, Ph.D. (Pearson) as they discuss the best practices in interviewing a customer. Good PMs need to be able to know the best way and approach to reach out to customers to understand their feedback and concerns that can help to improve a product or service. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 01:45 The importance of discovery 03:22 Interacting with customers will lead back to why you’re doing what you do 04:27 Types of interactions with customers 06:34 The interaction format depends on the goal 08:26 Constantly talk with customers 10:37 Use Zoom for recording 12:50 Check your confirmation bias 14:02 Start a earlier than the actual interview when selecting your sample size 15:24 Work on the art of questioning 17:28 Being representative of the population as a whole & be comfortable with silence 19:04 Bring in other people from your team 21:52 Biggest threat to discovery work is time 26:54 Talk about what you’ve learned & learn from other 29:03 Setting up your work calendar 34:15 How to approach a customer? 35:54 Overcoming suspicion 39:01 Scheduling customer interviews & reaching out manually or automatically 48:13 Final thoughts1 comments1
- Best of 2021: Time Management: How to Break Down Your Work HoursIn 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 Alex Selby (Amazon) and Swati Goel (Facebook) to talk about time management. Today’s focus is on how much time PMs need to allocate for structured and creative meetings, checking with customers to gather data on existing products, and breaking down your day strategically so you’ll have time to refresh your thoughts and replenish your creativity. 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 02:17 Why is time management and productivity important? 07:02 Breaking down your day with time bucketing 09:45 For PMs, unstructured, unfocused time is critical 11:47 Block out an hour for yourself everyday 14:29 Deciding how much time to put into strategy versus execution 18:45 Business priorities and where you’re product is at 20:41 From 90/10 to 60/40 time allocation with customers 28:33 Look for product adjacent roles or tasks that you can take on 33:20 Pick up patterns from the first customers and bring back to the team for planning 36:03 Learn more about the Inclusive Product Management Accelerator program 38:01 The writing culture in meetings is an artifact while building a product 42:07 Balance between outcome driven structured meetings and allowing creativity 44:23 Allow for creative sessions but facilitation is still needed 48:25 Start conversations with a wide approach first 49:20 Choose which meetings are mandatory for you 51:31 Time management takes a little bit of practice 53:02 How often should PMs check on customers 56:55 “Be specific and strategy in spending your time.” - Alex Selby 57:51 Listen to How to Be More Productive (Ep. 243)1 comments1
- Best of 2021: Getting Into Product Management From a Non-Traditional BackgroundToday, in the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, Jeff and Red welcome our panel of experts on product management to talk about becoming a product manager coming from a different background. The shift in interest from your educational background or career to becoming a customer-oriented problem solver opens a path to become a great PM. Listen in and join them as they share their minds, experiences, and expertise on what helps aspiring PMs to successfully join this competitive ecosystem. 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 01:20 PMs from non-traditional background bring in new thinking and perspectives 06:15 Learning product management from best practices from a global perspective 10:47 True or false: “If you don’t know how to code you can’t be a good PM.” 12:55 Coding may not matter in most environments, it could in smaller startups 16:03 Is being a scrum master a traditional path to becoming a PM? 18:35 Scrum masters tend to work inside of development chops 21:56 UX designers should have an artistic expertise 23:50 Try low resolution experimentation, don’t be afraid to try something that looks horrible 26:00 An example of low-res that works 31:26 The Product Management Life Cycle model 33:20 Educate yourself if you want to break into product management 34:37 Understand what’s required for the job and what do you have in terms of skills 36:54 The language we use differs in different ecosystems 39:19 Find out how does a product life cycle work 40:09 To connect with companies and industries, tap on the networking side 44:10 Managing physical, digital, and software products 47:16 Customer care and problem solving opens a path to product management 48:43 Stay curious and always ask questions 50:11 The person who understand the customers the most matters 51:16 Build site projects, invest in networking, and volunteering opportunities1 comments1
- 67: Making an Internal Transfer into Product ManagementIn 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 welcome Bryan Cottle (AWS), Scott Wofford (Amazon), and Joan Barcelona (Box) as they discuss how you can make an internal transfer into product management. If you’re someone who is interested in jumping into product but not sure if you should apply for internal opportunities, the three panelists for this episode will share to you some great tips on how you can do so and why it’s easier to transfer internally into a product role. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 05:55 Internal transfer vs. transferring to a different company 07:13 How to transfer internally into product management 08:46 Demonstrating that you understood the product 10:51 Other things you can do before transferring internally 13:18 When and how to talk about your goal to be in product 16:53 What experience can you highlight? 22:03 Assessing the PM role 26:14 Tools and resources to help skill development 28:53 Project manager to product role 31:34 Think about your North Star 33:39 Degree or certification to help get into product 41:52 Book recommendations 43:23 Final thoughts1 comments1
- 66: Growing into a Growth PMIn 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 welcome Peter Kazarian (Yahoo), Ryan Caddell (SounderMind), and Carolyn Carter (Wayfair) to talk about being a growth product manager and how to grow as one. Being a growth PM matters because their focus is to identify the key growth opportunities and growth strategies for businesses and improve business metrics. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 06:31 Growth PM vs. other PMs 09:03 Growth PM vs. marketing 14:03 Metrics of growth PMs 15:08 Ask their KPI 16:35 Is growth PM consumer focused? 18:31 Are growth PMs replacing sales? 20:41 Well designed products doesn’t need sales 22:33 How to make growth happen through testing & optimization 25:12 Understand your secondary KPIs 28:43 Retargeting 33:22 What to do during a conversion problem? 38:31 Difference between product marketing manager, growth PM, and PM 42:16 There’s no vision involved 47:50 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 65: People Over Product? What One Product Manager thinks Many PMs Get WrongIn 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 Anna Marie Clifton to talk about prioritizing people over product. A good PM should be able to manage products, people, and of course, both. A team has its own unique members and managing these people is an important part of a PM’s job. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 09:11 Influence without authority 11:42 What works in a different company won’t work in another one 13:59 Building trust relationships 16:26 Everyone is motivated by very different things 19:07 Framework or exercise for working with people 27:16 Clearly Product Book Club podcast 29:44 Politics in the workplace 30:54 Understand the unwritten rules 33:07 Frameworks are a waste of time 37:02 Definition of framework 39:02 Framework are for beginners 41:53 Managing young stakeholders 46:07 How to talk to people who disagrees 48:55 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 64: Landing a PM Role in the Current EconomyIn 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 Vipin K. Singh (FEVO), Parul Shorey (SeatGeek), Geetika Kapoor (Chewy), and Vikas Khandelwal (Qualtrics) to talk about how to land a PM role in the current economy. For those who are interested in changing to a PM role, these great panelists will share their personal experiences and advice on how to become a PM. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 08:23 Landing a product manager role in the current economy 11:37 There are still PM jobs out there 14:14 Network your way to opportunities 17:55 Highlight your skills & build relationships 20:57 Prepare a lot, be concise in communication, & know your value proposition 23:01 Value proposition 25:20 Have a personal mission 26:24 How to become a better communicator 28:00 Book or practice material recommendations 31:53 How to evaluate job opportunities 38:28 Should you go wide or go narrow? 44:15 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 63: Inclusive Language, Processes, Products, and Product Management CommunityIn 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 Emily Fishkind (Microsoft) and Richa Rai (F5) to talk about the importance of inclusivity in product development. Understanding inclusion in product management will help PMs build products that are accessible to everyone in the market and can help business growth. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 08:22 Inclusion in product management 11:04 Everything is evolving 12:58 Creating a sense of belonging, empathy, and cultural awareness 15:41 Calling people in than calling people out 18:34 3 recommendations for inclusive future in product management 21:09 Where to know more about inclusivity? 22:54 Is it a challenge or an opportunity? 28:44 Focusing on the margin 29:29 Inclusive language 30:46 Removing a non-inclusive term 34:16 Inclusion as you design your products and program 39:49 Advice to PM new to inclusivity 43:49 How to embed inclusion into your objectives? 45:34 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 62: Collecting and Utilizing Customer Usage DataIn 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 Zenifar Hathiari (Amazon) to talk about collecting and utilizing customer usage data. As a PM, you have to be able to understand usage data and use this information to help improve the product, analyze customer reception and satisfaction level for future iteration and final product output. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 03:18 Importance of data 07:39 Customer usage data 08:45 When to dive into customer usage data 11:11 Data sources 12:51 Customer vs. product data 14:58 Visualizing the data 16:44 How sales data is affects product 20:23 Quantitative and qualitative data 23:29 Utilizing customer usage data 27:22 Optimal amount of people to include in your framework 31:43 Advice for PM new to data 33:52 Favorite go-to data points 37:31 Data vs. real life 39:38 Usage or qualitative data first? 42:16 Third party data 43:38 Taking action on customer usage data 45:30 Balancing the need for speed and mitigating risk and collecting data 46:43 Book recommendations 47:48 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 61: Why Product Managers Value FrameworksIn 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 Patrick Waltz (HP), Dave Fleischman (Compass), and Sheena Dhanaraj to talk about why frameworks are valuable and why PMs should know them. Frameworks help PMs make strategic decisions, discover product ideas, and solve problems. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 01:18 Why frameworks are valuable 06:33 Frameworks is a collection of principles 09:07 Getting things done 11:03 Assumption mapping 11:23 Working backwards 13:44 North star framework 15:37 Funnel mapping 20:27 Establishing a good North star 21:36 No one size fits all 24:50 Know your job 27:17 Have an idea and share it 29:22 When the framework goes wrong 34:49 How do you pick a framework? 36:46 What’s a framework you’d love to be removed? 38:57 Psychological safety in teams 45:05 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 60: Hardware Product ManagementIn this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman welcomes Charlton Washington, MBA (Johnson & Johnson) and Jake Wallack (Axon) to talk about hardware product management. As a PM, you might have to choose between hardware vs. software. Knowing the difference between the two fields, the process involved, and the varying customer needs will allow PMs to get familiar with the systems should they wish to transition from hardware to software and vice versa. Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own. 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 05:42 Metrics of success in hardware 08:22 Hardware vs. software 09:52 Other metrics 12:40 Meeting the needs of different consumers 16:06 Inclusivity is necessary 18:59 Product management in hardware vs. software 21:11 Hardware has longer development cycles 24:42 Hardware or software as a PM? 26:47 More long term strategy 27:40 Check your skills and experience 28:40 Single threaded leadership 31:07 Stakeholder management with hardware vs. software 33:55 Stakeholders are more directly involved in product 35:01 What can make people in hardware PM angry? 38:16 Transition from software to hardware 40:11 How to navigate hardware PM in the medical space 42:16 Resources for PM 45:40 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 59: Driving Product InclusionIn 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 welcome Giselle Mota (ADP) to talk about product inclusion and product equity. With product inclusion, users feel seen and feel that their needs are met. This is why inclusion is an important aspect PMs must have and learn and how they can incorporate this in their products. 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 06:15 Definition of inclusion 09:54 Making the business case 11:47 Educate to ensure product inclusion 15:21 Product inclusion is not just in the language but also data that’s used 19:20 How to test inclusivity 22:38 Product management is an iterative process 27:36 Book recommendations 29:23 Is there anything unique about product inclusion and equity? 31:52 Mainstream user vs. extreme user 33:55 Factors that are accelerating inclusivity 36:38 Improving AI voice 39:08 Roles dedicated to product inclusion and product equity 47:21 Advice for product managers to be more equitable and inclusive 50:11 Final thoughts0 comments0
- Best of 2021: Thinking Through Assumptions and Managing the RisksIn 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 Dontae Delgado (Compass) and Siddhartha Rabindran (Microsoft) to discuss managing assumptions and start ranking them from the top most important to the least important, and build a framework around it to help develop the product. Assumptions, when correctly utilized and tested in the right environment exponentially helps product leaders find success. 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 01:42 The importance of managing assumptions and risk management 03:46 It’s easy to become comfortable with the flows of the product 05:11 Clarity plays an important role in managing assumptions 08:44 The different classifications of assumptions 10:45 Approach is the most important part of addressing assumptions 13:55 Assumption prompts to make assumptions explicit 15:52 The build versus buy evaluation 19:53 After generating assumptions, start ranking them 23:36 Critical path is about the solution and the framing 24:25 Proper documentation is key to effective communication 27:17 Situations that could happen when assumptions aren’t made 29:45 Reference books and resources for assumption management 37:04 How do you go about validating assumptions? 40:31 The product team considers four important things: product, market, channels, and business model 43:42 Producer and consumer framework in critical in managing expectations 47:31 Building a culture of domain empathy 50:28 Assumptions are an integral part of everything we do 54:13 Assumptions are linchpin to product success 55:29 Some assumptions, when utilized correctly or incorrectly, either hurt or help the products0 comments0
- 58: Death to PRDs?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 Saumil Shrivastava (UiPath) and Mark Cramer (Meta) to talk about the death to PRDs. What is a PRD and can it be removed from a company? How can this tool help a PM’s job and what is its relationship with backlogs? A PM should be able to understand the importance of PRD and how it can be a starting point to get anything done. *Disclaimer: “All opinions of the speakers are their own.” 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 05:13 What is a PRD? 08:15 PRDs are the starting point to get anything done 09:25 Have a goal 11:41 Format doesn’t matter 12:28 Strategy documents 14:55 A part in PRDs that can be removed 17:20 Backlogs 19:16 Strategy depends on the size of the team 21:22 Relationship between PRDs and backlogs 24:59 Shifting focus from PRD to backlog overtime 27:18 Purpose is different 29:31 Backlogs are a PMs domain 30:43 Project managers and engineering manager on backlogs 33:46 Sometimes effectiveness is more important than efficiency 36:30 Advice for beginners in PRD 39:13 Find a mentor 40:39 Your job is not about the tool 42:42 Final thoughts0 comments0
- 57: Tips for Product Managers Setting GoalsIn 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 welcome Ben Waddle (Expedia Group) and Shivam Goyal (Tellus) to talk about how PMs can properly set goals. A good PM must know how to set goals and be able to identify how the team can achieve it, whether it’s too ambitious or difficult to reach, and the right percentage goals the team should be hitting. Goal setting is a good skill for a PM because it motivates you towards your outcome and gives you clarity on what you want to achieve. 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 04:46 Why is goal setting important? 05:55 What happens when you’re not effective at setting goals 06:43 Know the reason why you’re setting a goal 07:26 Goals should be outcome oriented 08:18 Making sure everyone is aligned on the goal 09:21 Being specific is important 11:05 Anti-goals 13:23 The problem with setting a super ambitious goal 15:54 What is the right percentage of goals you should be hitting? 23:03 Who should be involved in goal setting 26:00 Technology for goal setting 32:53 Use a system that you are comfortable with 35:41 Does remote work change how you communicate towards goals? 38:21 When to abandon a goal 43:22 A good goal before COVID 46:53 Final thoughts0 comments0
- Best of 2021: Mentoring New Product Managers Through Empathy and UnderstandingToday, in the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, Jeff and Red welcome our panel of experts on product management to talk about mentoring new product managers. They discuss how domain expertise can help new PMs grow in the field, the qualities one must have to understand and build relationships with customers, improving problem solving skills and building frameworks to tackle problems, and the roles senior PMs play in honing younger leaders. What to Listen For: 00:00 Intro 00:43 Building empathy and understanding for new Product Managers 02:31 Taking ownership and being proactive early on 04:06 Understand your customers and build relationships 06:52 PM’s must be curious and empathetic 08:40 Spend time to learn your product domain 13:39 Multiple variables affect what you end up focusing on as a PM 16:26 PMs often focus on the solution but don’t spend much time understanding the problem 19:01 The most important skill for new PM’s: actively ask questions 23:00 Promising books new PMs should read 26:40 Tools to help communicate with customers and conduct market research 31:27 How do you make problems and their solutions meaningful to the market? 35:40 Find a good mentor to guide you along the way 36:28 Difference between a mentor and a sponsor 38:14 Help coming from a senior product leader 42:42 Creating a psychologically safe space for new PMs 46:54 Challenges transitioning from B2B to B2C role 50:37 Observe patterns and build frameworks to tackle problems 51:35 Be that go-to person for the team 54:18 Are you spending time listening to your customers?0 comments0
- Best of 2021: The Different Styles of Decision-MakingToday, in the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, Jeff and Red welcome a panel of experts on Product Management to discuss the importance of decision making in the success of any project. The panel of experts, known and respected in their respective expertise, share valuable tips and insights on what it takes to come up with the right decision. Episode Resources: University of Washington The Product Management Center Jeff Shulman’s LinkedIn What to Listen For: 00:00 Intro 01:03 Soumeya Benghanem on the different styles of decision-making 03:44 “Understand the right process and structure to use to frame up decisions.” - Adam Grupp 05:37 “The expensive and scary are the ones where it's a long-term commitment you can’t change so easily.” - Greg Young 08:05 Sumathi Kadambi on the cost of failing to make a decision and the fear of decision-making. 12:17 “Create your own metrics for your own product.” Marily Nika 14:57 What’s your bold thought on decision-making? 16:37 Is data just confirming what you already know or do you have some wild changes based off of it? 20:02 Half of PM decisions are decisions they’re not even conscious of 21:26 Build an ecosystem of experts within the company to help make decisions 24:24 Favorite decision-making matrix regularly used 27:01 Go-to method for sourcing new ideas or iterating mature and new products 32:14 Hiring board at Mattress Firm, connect with Sumantro Das 34:23 Oftentimes, the best ideas come from unexpected places 37:15 Take what makes you successful but apply it in new places that can help make big changes 39:05 Be very clear on how everyone makes decisions 43:09 Decision-making takes time to build confidence on and to build the tool set 44:27 Some things are hard to let go but maybe they're not where our future is 46:24 Build a learning organization by understanding how decisions are made and documenting them0 comments0
- 56: How PRDs Can Help Build A Good ProductIn 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 Rajvi Bhatt (Walmart Global Tech), Prathyusha (Usha) Cheruku (UnitedHealth Group), and Arvind Dutta (Microsoft) to talk about how to write a good PRD. Do good PMs need to know how to write PRDs or product requirement documents? PRDs can be useful and a great way to help capture important information about your product in one place, so a good PM should learn how to write one as it is one of the most important documents a PM could create. 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 02:31 What a PRD is? 04:46 PRDs are mechanisms to help stakeholders 07:29 What can go wrong in PRD? 10:09 PRDs are sometimes useless 12:20 Difference between PR/FAQ and PRD 14:10 Backlogs in PRD 16:29 One pagers 18:24 PRDs are a way to accomplish the goal of building a product 19:15 How PRDs help a product manager 22:20 Different documentations and how they change 27:31 Version controlling 28:28 Focus on the persona 29:09 Include a clear problem statement 32:21 Do you need a degree to become a PM? 34:42 Have interest and familiarize yourself towards the product role 36:04 Non-technical people can still be a PM 38:41 Adding new features in PRD 40:54 Ideas are part of an agile product development process 42:18 Adapting to an existing PRD 46:30 Document new ideas 48:38 Final thoughts0 comments0
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