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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.
Episodes
3 days ago
3 days ago
The application window for the Inclusive Product Management Accelerator runs June 8, 2023 to June 20, 2023. Learn more and apply at http://ipma.info.foster.uw.edu
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 and Associate Director Kara Fichthorn welcome Christopher M. Barnes (Foster School of Business) as they discuss how sleep could affect different aspects of our life and being a PM. Lack of sleep impairs cognitive functions such as decision-making, problem-solving, and creativity, which are vital skills for PMs. Sleep-deprived individuals may struggle to focus and prioritize tasks effectively, leading to poor decision-making and decreased productivity. Additionally, sleep deprivation can negatively affect communication and collaboration skills, as fatigue can hinder effective teamwork and stakeholder management. Overall, sleep deprivation undermines the ability of PMs to perform their roles efficiently and effectively, ultimately impacting the success of their projects and teams.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 05:02 Understanding sleep and its effect on PM
- 08:37 Cyberloafing
- 09:16 Opportunity and identification as it relates to sleep
- 12:13 Sleep and creativity
- 15:03 Should I sleep on it?
- 16:06 Effects of sleep on leadership
- 20:09 Taking naps
- 22:36 Alternatives for sleep
- 25:36 Working on sleeping hours
- 31:21 The quality vs. quantity of sleep
- 33:11 Sleep disorders
- 40:41 Other treatments for sleep apnea
- 45:45 Starting work at different times
- 50:29 Final thoughts
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Applications for the Inclusive Product Management Accelerator open June 8th. Learn more at foster.uw.edu/ipm-accelerator
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 Avinoam Zelenko (LinkedIn) as they discuss the emotional side of product management. Successful PMs understand user frustrations, desires, and aspirations, using emotional insight to improve the product. They foster collaboration and motivation through empathy, active listening, and effective communication. Moreover, they prioritize self-care, embracing self-compassion to navigate challenges and setbacks, benefiting personal growth and effective leadership.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 02:38 Emotional side of product management
- 07:43 ELMR framework
- 11:39 Focus on internal work too
- 13:40 Kindness is clarity
- 16:04 How to be kind when others are not?
- 20:20 Get feedback from close people and mimic how others interact with certain personalities
- 22:15 How salespeople manage their emotions?
- 26:42 Balancing emotions of external and internal stakeholders
- 33:58 Let your team be comfortable to ask questions
- 35:02 Showing your emotions when applying for a remote PM role
- 41:24 “Intuition is more important than being data driven…”
- 50:51 Can emotions help measure success and risk?
- 53:35 Final thoughts
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
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 Leslie Thomas Jr. (Microsoft) as they discuss how PMs manage their energy and mental health. Work and personal life can be physically, emotionally, and mentally draining. So how can we recharge ourselves to keep thriving and stay motivated? Join today’s conversation as they share some tips on how they manage their energy and some self-care tips to keep us mentally healthy.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 05:38 What’s draining your energy?
- 11:40 Bringing your team along in the journey
- 15:25 Body doubling
- 17:27 Doing work that involves working with people
- 18:27 Go back to the things that gave you a lot of energy
- 20:00 Gratitude
- 21:11 How can you separate yourself from work?
- 23:51 “Gratitude and anxiety can’t exist at the same time…”
- 27:02 Use anxiety to your advantage
- 28:52 Anxiety vs. Pressure
- 34:02 Reward yourself
- 36:30 What is mental health?
- 38:57 Having a mindfulness practice
- 40:49 Start your day with a walk
- 42:57 Prioritize what’s important to you
- 46:34 How to say no and set boundaries
- 50:37 Final thoughts
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Wednesday May 17, 2023
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 Michael W. Lam (Zoom) as they discuss how to thrive in a product led organization. PMs can thrive in a product-led organization by adopting a data-driven mindset, leveraging customer insights to inform decision-making, and prioritizing cross-functional collaboration to align teams and drive innovation. By staying attuned to market trends, embracing agile methodologies, and fostering a customer-centric culture, PMs can navigate the dynamic landscape, deliver exceptional products, and achieve long-term success in a product-led organization.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 05:54 What’s a product led organization?
- 06:54 Important for the customer vs. PMs
- 09:15 Building instead of outsourcing
- 17:34 Aligning product teams for success
- 21:37 How to thrive in a product led organization
- 24:31 Product leaders protecting their products from salespeople
- 25:37 Recognize the product you’re building and who it is for
- 29:47 Main differences between product led organizations and other organizations
- 32:09 Data vs. Emotions
- 40:04 Free trials and free tiers products
- 45:06 Risk Assessment Framework
- 51:40 Final thoughts
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Join us in Seattle for the Inclusive Product Management Summit on May 12th and May 13th. Info at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman welcomes Michael Broome (Vituity) and John Mark Nickels (Waymo) as they discuss how PMs can develop a team culture. PMs play a critical role in creating and shaping the culture of their teams. Team culture refers to the shared beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that shape the way a group of individuals works together towards a common goal. As a PM, it is important to be intentional about creating and shaping the culture of your team to ensure that it aligns with the values and goals of the organization.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
Resources:
- Foster the Product: Leading teams and aligning stakeholders toward a common vision - Foster Blog (uw.edu)
- Lead from the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity - Jay Steinfeld
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 05:00 How PMs can develop a team culture
- 06:34 When does a team culture become important
- 08:43 The right time to start developing a team culture
- 09:59 Learning team dynamics through sport
- 12:26 The four ingredients of a team
- 15:12 When it works for the team but not for an individual
- 20:07 How to have difficult conversations with your team
- 21:30 Getting a group to work together
- 23:58 Having a strategic goal
- 25:58 The importance of clarity in vision and strategy
- 29:34 How to learn and celebrate from mistakes
- 34:31 Frameworks to bring out the best in you
- 39:00 Motivating teams to reach their potential and set aside personal ego
- 41:08 Tips to develop a team culture
- 43:00 Having difficult conversations with people you report to and incentives for a team
- 47:41 Final thoughts
Wednesday May 03, 2023
Wednesday May 03, 2023
Join us in Seattle for the Inclusive Product Management Summit on May 12th and May 13th. Info at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
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 welcomes Tatyana Mamut (Reforge) as they discuss being in a product-led organization. Becoming a product-led is crucial for PMs because it puts the customer experience at the forefront of decision-making. By focusing on building products that users love and find value in, product-led organizations can drive growth, increase customer loyalty, and gain a competitive advantage in the market. This approach requires a deep understanding of customer needs, constant experimentation, and a willingness to prioritize the long-term success of the product over short-term gains. By adopting a product-led mindset, product managers can build products that not only meet customer needs but also drive business success.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 04:38 What is a product-led organization?
- 06:28 From customer-centric to being product-led
- 09:12 The difference between the needs of the business and the needs of the customer
- 10:36 Should everyone in the organization have a product-led mindset?
- 14:27 The Hooked Framework
- 18:49 What role should people play in building a product-led mindset?
- 22:06 Balancing customer needs and revenue
- 26:48 The biggest challenge for a PM in a product-led organization
- 35:27 Can a lean product development process fit within a product-led organization?
- 38:25 Minimum viable product vs. Minimum lovable product
- 40:18 The best way to start a product-led team
- 43:57 Build something that somebody will be willing to pay for
- 45:38 Metrics that matter in a product-led organization
- 47:48 Other resources to learn more about product-led organizations
- 49:32 Final thoughts
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
Join us in Seattle for the Inclusive Product Management Summit on May 12th and May 13th. Info at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
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 welcome Anar Taori (Lovingly) and James Brand (Microsoft) as they discuss how using AI tools can help current and aspiring PMs be successful in product development. AI tools can help product managers in numerous ways, including automating repetitive tasks, analyzing large amounts of data to identify patterns and trends, and providing real-time insights into customer behavior, but how can we be sure that this will be reliable for PMs?
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 08:12 AI Tools in product management workflows
- 15:25 Is AI reliable?
- 19:16 Prompts you could use to survey Chat GPT instead of customers
- 21:19 Using GPT for market research
- 23:52 Giving AI personas
- 25:14 Ethics behind using AI tools
- 28:57 AI in Governement
- 32:08 Providing context & phrasing your question to Chat GPT
- 35:13 How does Chat GPT absorb the information from users’ questions?
- 38:08 Success stories in using AI tools
- 42:12 For people planning to use Chat GPT
- 44:06 How do we know if Chat GPT has the information or the knowledge of specific domains?
- 47:37 Final thoughts
Wednesday Apr 19, 2023
Wednesday Apr 19, 2023
Join us in Seattle for the Inclusive Product Management Summit on May 12th and May 13th. Info at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
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
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Join us in Seattle for the Inclusive Product Management Summit on May 12th and May 13th. Info at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
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 welcome Charles Wartemberg (Netflix), Dosoo Amenyah (Facebook), and Nkem Okoye (Instacart) as they discuss the mistakes that made them become better PMs. These experienced professionals candidly share their personal experiences and the common mistakes they made that helped them grow into better product managers.
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 09:22 Jumping and transitioning too quickly
- 12:15 Coping with feeling like a failure
- 16:49 Having people to share your wins
- 18:29 Understanding what mattered to the end user not just the internal users
- 22:11 How do you know if you’re making a mistake?
- 28:17 Signals to look for in a quality translation
- 34:26 Quantitative signals when it comes to translations
- 36:57 How to find motivation after the mistake?
- 43:20 Proceeding when roadblocks happen
- 45:42 Balancing between data-driven and decision-making with intuition
- 51:37 Final thoughts
Wednesday Apr 05, 2023
Wednesday Apr 05, 2023
Connect with leading product managers at the Inclusive Product Management Summit, May 12th and 13th in Seattle. Learn more at https://summit.info.foster.uw.edu/
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 Sheena (D’ornellas) Mclean (Butterflio) and Fedor Sandakov as they discuss how to land a PM role using Chat GPT. Lots of prompts and tips on how Chat GPT can help your transition to become a PM so make sure to check out today’s episode!
Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.
What to Listen For:
- 00:00 Intro
- 06:26 What needs to be done to break into PM
- 09:10 Writing cover letters using Chat GPT
- 15:07 Competing for a job where other aspiring PMs also use Chat GPT
- 16:04 Ways to improve your prompt
- 18:55 Long-term effect of using AI
- 20:19 Prompts to use for the job search process
- 23:50 Chat GPT as an interviewer
- 25:41 Reframing resumes
- 27:45 Teach Chat GPT to write in a different tone and voice
- 30:03 Entry-level books for someone transitioning to a PM role
- 33:52 Doctors as PMs
- 43:19 How transparent should you be in your interview that you use Chat GPT?
- 49:43 Chat GPT can’t replace human
- 51:36 Final thoughts + resource for Chat GPT prompts