Interviewing with Engineering Managers

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 # of times I've...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Product managers 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 be...
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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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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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A common thread around product management involves how technical a product manager should be in order to be effective In this post we’ll describe the two viewpoints to this...
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As a product manager who works with software engineers, you will definitely witness the various ways code is tested upon completion Testing the end product is...
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Apart from the day to day responsibilities, PMs must learn the skill of partnering with stakeholders Stakeholder management is a highly underrated skill that's often...
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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...
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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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Finding your first job as a product manager is just like the ever frustrating chicken and egg problem of getting your first job Companies like to hire people with prior product...
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A lot of people tend to use the terms product manager and product owner interchangeably This could be due to the abundance of startups and small companies, where the product owner...
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Every new feature or product your team works on is an opportunity cost for the company As a product manager, it is absolutely critical that you fully understand your customer...
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Hunter Walk is a Co-founder and Partner at Homebrew, a seed-stage venture fund investing in mission-driven founders seeking to enable the bottoms up economy - helping businesses,...
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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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Need to get a complete understanding of what wireframes are If you are interested in getting in the UX field, you will certainly hear a lot about wireframes Wireframes are...
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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 has a product...
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Romy Macasieb About: Romy Macasieb is the VP of Product Management at Walker & Brands reporting directly to Tristan Walker, Founder & CEO He manages the FORM &...
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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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This is a guest post that was originally published by Stephanie Oh on StephOhSays Are you considering a career in Product Management, but feeling lost as to how...
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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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Jackie Bavaro About: Before Asana was a publicly available product, Jackie Bavaro was guiding the company’s product decisions behind the scenes as the 's first product...
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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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Another common question that is frequently asked during product manager interviews is “How would you improve X product” While the product design question asks you to...
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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 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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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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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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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 as an associate product manager (APM) After all, the associate product manager role is set up as an...
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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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One reason why product management is so complex is because context matters Different product distribution models fundamentally change the way that products are built, validated,...
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One core responsibility of a product manager is to analyze the performance of her product After all, by analyzing product performance, product managers can drive impact by:...
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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 a PM, what are some important metrics to measure for your product In each post of this series we'll be covering a different metric, why this particular metric is important,...
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As you might imagine, creating a new product is an extremely broad and open-ended topic that can quickly get out of hand If an interviewer asks you to walk through how you might...
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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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One commonly asked question during product manager interviews is: "What's your favorite product and why" At first glance, it seems like a harmless question and oftentimes...
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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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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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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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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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In the first and second article in this series on value propositions, we discussed how to craft a value proposition, and how to execute on it For our final article in the series,...
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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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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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This is a guest post that was originally published by Andrea Saez on ProdPad Up until recently, no one really knew what product roadmaps were supposed to look like, but we all...
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Recently one of my co-workers shared an excellent article that explains what exactly a product manager does I think it’s one of the clearest and best articles I've...
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This is a guest post from our PMHQ Advisor, Fernando Delgado Context I worked at Google for 5+ years, where I interviewed over 150 PM candidates I then worked at Yahoo for 3...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Madhu Punjabi on Medium A mathematical insight into how products get shipped I love the white board I mean,...
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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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Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, Marty...
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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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In many companies, the product manager and the UX designer roles go hand in hand This week's post is an introduction to the UX designer role, how it's similar (and different) to...
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During our last post of the PMs & Metrics series, we covered the details of the conversion rate In today's post, we'll be going over another important metric that PMs should...
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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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Wyatt Jenkins is a product and business leader with a passion for building products that customers love Before diving headfirst into the product world, Wyatt was a professional...
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Zack Onisko About: Zack Onisko is the CEO of Dribbble which is one of the leading communities for designers with millions of visitors per month with zero marketing Zack...
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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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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 product managers, we’re responsible not just for performing customer research and writing user stories, but also for the performance and the behavior of our product Ensuring...
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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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At my company I frequently hear the term "MVP" being used by PMs, developers, and designers alike What exactly does this mean, and why is it so important for agile software...
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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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Product management is such a broad field, with opportunities in companies of all shapes and sizes I recently came across an excellent post about PMing at start-ups vs PMing at...
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Starting off as a new product manager might seem daunting There are so many things to learn in such a short period of time, and you're expected to provide the vision and roadmap...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Evgeny Lazarenko on Medium “I’m a Product Manager at TradeGecko, an inventory management SaaS company based in...
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The launch celebration is over, the product is live, and there's finally time to take a (quick) breather after weeks of intense work But what happens after a product...
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When I first started in product management, I had no idea what I was doing I had just barely managed to land the job and now that I had gotten my foot in the door, I wasn’t...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Manas Saloi on LinkedIn 2015 was a big year for me professionally I transitioned from coding to product management...
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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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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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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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Jeff Morris Jr About: Jeff is the Director of Product Management (Revenue) at Tinder, where he leads revenue products including Tinder Gold, Tinder Plus, a la carte...
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Kenneth Berger About: Kenneth Berger has spent 10+ years leading tech products through the full product lifecycle He was the first product manager at Slack, responsible...
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Howie Liu About: Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of collaboration platform Airtable, which is used by over 30,000 organizations including Airbnb, , Condé Nast, ,...
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Spenser Skates About: Spenser is the co-founder and CEO of Amplitude, a product analytics software that helps businesses understand their users' behavior so they can build...
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Jess Lee About: Jess Lee is an investing partner at Sequoia Capital and is the venture capital firm’s first female partner in the US in 44 years of...
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Josh Elman About: Josh Elman is a Partner at Greylock Partners who invests in entrepreneurs building social networks and platforms, mobile apps, new media, and connected...
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About: Yardley Ip is the General Manager of Trulia Rentals at Zillow Group where she oversees product management and marketing for the rentals business She is on the...
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About: David Cancel is the founder and CEO of Drift, a messaging app that helps sales and customer success teams connect with their customers Prior to Drift, David was the...
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Ellen Chisa About: Ellen Chisa is the VP of Product of Lola She is also a Product Advisor at Flybridge Capital and an instructor of Product Management and Interface...
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Fernando Delgado About: Fernando Delgado started his PM career at Google as an Associate Product Manager Over the 5 and a half years he spent there, he had the...
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About: Brandon is a Sr Product Manager at Shopify, where he currently splits his time leading conversational commerce products (selling through messaging) and building the...
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Punit Soni About: Punit was until recently at Flipkart (India’s largest ecommerce company) as their Chief Product Officer In this role, he led the product definition...
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Justin Watt About: While attending university for psychology, Justin ventured in to project & product management where he took part in internal products creation for Shaw...
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For those who are unaware, AMA stands for ‘Ask Me Anything’ where you’ll have the chance to ask our featured guest any question you’d like Our product guest of honor...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Paul Jackson on his blog I’ll try to keep it brief 2015 was a colossal year for Product Managers and digital...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Christina Wodtke on Medium There have been a bunch of articles lately from designers on product management in the...
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This is a guest post that was originally published by Jen Ruffner on Medium Problems should be the foundation of product development We’ve all been to those...
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If you've been following the PM world even for a bit, you've probably come across the age-old question of how technical product managers should be In many software startups and...
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Over the past couple of days, I’ve had the opportunity to attend Opticon 2015, a huge conference for the experience optimization and testing community Hosted by Optimizely,...
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There are few professional fields I've come across as diverse as the product management field In all my conversations with other PMs, I haven't experienced one...
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