 | Clement KaoClement Kao is Co-Founder of Product Manager HQ. He was previously a Principal Product Manager at Blend, an enterprise technology company that is inventing a simpler and more transparent consumer lending experience while ensuring broader access for all types of borrowers. |
In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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A product manager's core responsibilities include working with a team to design, build, ship, and continuously improve a product During product manager interviews, most companies...
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Interested in learning about the most traditional and foundational software development processes The waterfall methodology is a linear project management approach that...
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Members of the PMHQ Slack community regularly host awesome events for product managers to swap tips and learn from one another In San Francisco, Vinay Melwani (Product Manager...
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This article is a sequel to our popular post, Day in the Life of a Product Manager There are many different flavors of product management, especially since product manager...
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As product managers, the one question that we get asked every now and then is: "What does a product manager do, anyway" Unfortunately, many of us still stutter while answering...
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The role of a product manager is to fill in the white space between departments to ensure that the customer receives a product that produces value and that the company has a...
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One question I’ve regularly encountered as part of the product manager interview is the superpower question This question usually looks like the following: “What is your...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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As product managers, we work with many stakeholders from many different departments within our organization Our stakeholders rely on us to inform them on what’s happening with...
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Product backlogs are an invaluable way to gather ideas and capture inbound bugs from other stakeholders in the organization Not only that, as product managers, we heavily rely...
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What's the difference between product manager vs project manager It certainly doesn't help that both are named so similarly, and I can't tell you the number of times I've been...
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As a product manager, you might work at a product organization that works with remote teams For example, I’ve worked with software development teams based out of India and...
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If you’re reading this article, congratulations! You’ve pulled together a compelling resume, you've studied your behavioral questions, you’ve practiced your case questions,...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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Whenever a candidate applies to a new job for a product manager position, they must signal their value through multiple mediums While the resume is the most well-known part of...
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As a product manager, you will be expected to know quite a few different areas of knowledge Not only are you required to become a domain expert in the product that you'll own, but...
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Product managers win when their products are adopted Therefore, half of the battle is building amazing products, and the other half of the battle is selling amazing products...
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One of the most common questions I get asked is, “do you recommend that I get an MBA (Master’s of Business Administration) to become a product manager” My answer is,...
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Product managers are multiplicative, not additive In other words, we set the direction for others to take - and if we take them in the wrong direction, then we put the company at...
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In our previous article, we discussed how to shadow your sales team to uncover new insights about your product While shadowing your sales team can be incredibly valuable, you...
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Throughout this series of articles, we’ve provided frameworks for how to work effectively with your sales team: how to shadow sales calls, how to partner on sales calls, and how...
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In our previous article, we talked about the costs of context switching, and how to generally prevent context switching However, product managers don’t usually have the...
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Members of the PMHQ Slack community regularly host awesome events for product managers to swap tips and learn from one another In San Francisco, Vinay Melwani (Product Manager...
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As product managers, we only succeed if our products are adopted That means that we need to know both how to build amazing products as well as how to sell amazing products And...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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One of the most critical value multipliers that a product manager can bring to the table is the ability to empathize with their engineers A product manager who deeply...
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One of the best ways to break into the field of product management is to start as an associate product manager (APM) After all, the associate product manager role is set up as...
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Self-awareness is a critical trait for all product managers to have So, it makes sense for companies to test for self-awareness as part of the interview process One way to test...
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Since product managers fill the white space between departments and have so many tasks to juggle, we’re constantly switching between different contexts For example, one...
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Regardless of background, we as product managers are obligated to know how to ship effective B2B (business-to-business) products After all, technology continues to evolve...
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Nearly every product manager I’ve ever spoken with has the exact same situation - calendars filled entirely with meetings There’s a reason why we have so many meetings as...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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This article is a sequel to our popular post, Day in the Life of a Product Manager There are many different flavors of product management, especially since product manager...
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When I work with product managers, I strongly believe that the most valuable product they ship is themselves In other words, product managers are also products In fact, I'd go...
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Product managers aren’t just responsible for shipping a product We’re also responsible for building the engine that builds great products In other words, we build processes,...
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In the first and second articles in this series on value propositions, we discussed how to craft a value proposition, and how to execute it For our final article in the series,...
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Every product manager builds their product on top of some set of technologies (commonly known as a tech stack) As customer needs and organizational needs continue to change,...
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What’s an objection As Merriam-Webster defines it, an objection is “an expression or feeling of disapproval or opposition” - and too often, our customers will have...
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As a product manager, your objective is to create products that solve user pain To solve the pain of your users, you need to understand them first - and user interviews are a...
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Product managers who build B2B products have all faced the problem before: a large customer needs the product to work in a particular way that isn’t currently supported So,...
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Your product’s value to the customer is your benefit-to-cost ratio, also known as return on investment (ROI) Whenever you can provide more benefit through your product or...
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Previously, we dove deep into creating a value proposition that is based on both meaningful customer research and thoughtful consideration of the benefits and costs that your...
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In our previous article, we discussed the three core categories of switching costs: financial, procedural, relational How might we use switching costs to drive more value from...
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As product managers, we’re responsible not just for performing customer research and user stories, but also for the performance and the behavior of our product Ensuring our...
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Many product organizations have stopped focusing on being data-driven, and are pivoting towards being data-informed instead What’s the difference between the two Let me...
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As you continue to grow in your product manager role with new responsibilities, you’ll find that you’re entirely in charge of your career trajectory and professional...
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Over the past few years as a business-to-business (B2B) product manager, I’ve learned when it comes to the success of a B2B product, process matters far more than technology...
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In our last post, we discussed how to select new technologies for your tech stack As a reminder, this decision is critical to the long-term health of both the product and the...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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It’s hard to find stellar product managers Due to that scarcity, employers are eager to attract product managers through generous compensation The software product...
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Product managers are fundamentally non-essential to the creation of a viable product - that is, we enable functions to collaborate and prioritize to provide 100x the impact they...
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One of the main benefits of working in an Agile fashion is that you can shift your product priorities as the landscape around you changes While this benefit enables you to be...
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I’ve found that no matter what, part of the product manager interview process involves asking the failure question to prospective candidates The popular failure question...
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Product managers care deeply about the engagement of their users After all, engagement is an indicator that their product is providing value to users Of course, engagement can...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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As product managers, it’s critical for us to understand the lasting impact that we have on our users - and one of the easiest ways to do so is through cohort...
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Whether you're an aspiring product manager or a senior product manager, you'll always need to have a fantastic resume Every hiring organization uses them to evaluate how good of a...
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In our previous article, we discussed cohort analyses in the business-to-consumer (B2C) product space We first broke down how cohort analyses enable you to see the difference...
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I’ve noticed that more and more people have been asking, “what is growth product management” and “is growth product management right for me” These are fantastic...
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As product managers, we solve problems for users - both new users and existing users One of the best ways to get to know existing users better is to work alongside customer...
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One of the core responsibilities as a product manager is to determine the long-term strategy for their product To do so, product managers create product roadmaps to orient...
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Product managers are always juggling lots of initiatives at once, so it’s crucial for product managers to know how to effectively manage projects and deadlines In my own journey...
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One reason why product management is so complex is that context matters Different product distribution models fundamentally change the way that products are built, validated, and...
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One core responsibility of a product manager is to analyze the performance of their product After all, by analyzing product performance, product managers can drive impact...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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One of the most frequent questions I get is, “how can I find a product manager job” I have good news for you: as software continues to eat the world, the need for talented...
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Product managers provide value to their customers through their product offerings Our primary objective is to create so much value for customers that they choose us, stay with...
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We compiled this official guide based on conversations with hundreds of product managers in our PMHQ community who revealed the most popular product management tools and product...
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In today's competitive job market, product managers can't afford to turn a blind eye to product manager interview questions That's if you want to increase your chances of...
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An efficient product roadmap is an integral part of any successful product Effective product managers lead their teams towards a vision of the future, and to do so they lean on...
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What's the difference between a product manager (PM) and a product marketing manager (PMM) After all, both are responsible for product launches of customer-facing products,...
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THIS ARTICLE IS ONLY HALFWAY DONE PLEASE IGNORE FOR NOW highlight similarities, differences Misconceptions About the Interview Let's also talk about what information is...
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The end goal for any software product team is to build synergistic products, rather than additive products After all, when you build a product, you don’t just want to create...
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Earlier this week, we discussed the Waterfall methodology and today we're going to go over another popular methodology in the industry called Agile Agile is an extremely iterative...
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While nearly every software relies on product managers, many of them are still learning more about what a product operations manager and team do and what value it...
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While many product managers know how to use Jira (a ticket tracking tool), they may not have mastery over some of the finer nuances of Jira, including JQL What is JQL JQL is...
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While north star metrics are incredibly valuable for creating focus and alignment, they provide even more value when paired with a counter metric What’s a counter metric A...
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I’ve reviewed countless product manager resumes and product manager LinkedIn profiles, and one mistake that I commonly see is that the candidate’s resume and profile are...
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Product managers are not just in charge of the products they build - they’re also in charge of the processes and systems around them, as they continue to unlock multiplicative...
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Product managers seek to find and address the pain of others - so it’s no wonder that some of the most altruistic and philanthropic people I know are product managers! In...
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The best product managers treat themselves as products, and that means that they have a deep understanding of which market segments they target and which pains they solve within...
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As a new product manager, you might feel overwhelmed by all of the newfound responsibilities that you have After all, you’re not just responsible for the fate of your product -...
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Your profile is one of the first things a product management recruiter will look at So, you should regularly keep your product manager profile optimized and up-to-date First,...
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As part of the product manager interview process, you’ll find that you’ll be interviewing with engineering managers quite regularly After all, product managers work closely...
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I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked: “What is a product manager, and how do I become one” I’m always fascinated by this question, because the person...
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Because product managers fill in the white space between customers, the business, and the development team, product managers are always flooded with qualitative information -...
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A LinkedIn recommendation can significantly boost the appeal of any product manager candidate After all, it’s a publicly visible recommendation, which means that the recommender...
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Every product manager faces uncertainty Whether you’re launching a new product, scaling an existing product, onboarding into a new role, or tackling just about anything else as...
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To succeed as product managers, we need to demonstrate that we’re effective cross-functional collaborators One of the best ways to demonstrate that is to obtain a recommendation...
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As product managers, we have the responsibility of moving the business forward, and one of the most effective means for ensuring we do so is through the use of objectives and key...
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Successful product managers need to motivate their product development teams, share crucial context at the right time with teammates, and solicit feedback from teammates on how...
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In the PMHQ Slack community, we regularly get thought-provoking questions that we feel should be explored in-depth and documented for future reference We're starting a new set of...
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During our last post of the PMs & Metrics series, we covered the details of retention rate In today’s post, we’ll be going over another important metric that PMs should be...
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As a product manager, you’re guaranteed to come across at least one large product-related crisis at work, if not multiple ones Therefore, crisis management is a core skill for...
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Becoming a product manager is a frustrating chicken and egg problem Companies like to hire people with prior product management experience and it’s hard to get prior experience...
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One of the biggest gifts I've received in my life is product mentorship Honestly, without mentorship, I would not be who I am today Regardless of your seniority, product...
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While product managers are responsible for making decisions, they’re also responsible for revisiting past decisions to ensure that those previous decisions are still...
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