Skills

Curious to learn the top finance product manager skills recruiters are looking for Finance PMs occupy a unique position within the world of product management As specialized...
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The role of principal product manager (PPM) comes with a lot of responsibility And it’s not a role you fall into by chance  Sometimes referred to as product lead or lead...
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Data science product management can be a rewarding yet complex career path As a data science product manager, each new product you oversee will be different Each project will...
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Product managers who work at startups have their work cut out for them Nowadays, sharpening your startup product manager skills has become more of a priority than they have ever...
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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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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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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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Another age-old question in product management circles is whether PMs should have MBAs At least today, an MBA can be a double-edged sword when it comes to recruiting for product...
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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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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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Like any other job, product management can oftentimes be a very overwhelming experience for any individual joining a new company When I first transitioned into my first 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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User retention constitutes a fundamental cornerstone of a business' lifecycle  It can either lead one down the path to continued growth and profit gain or signal the beginning...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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Product management is a highly data-driven field Tying tangible numbers to the progression of your product and how your customers see it can reveal useful business insights To...
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Many writers and copywriters know what technical writing is, but not many have a grasp of the specifics This can make technical writing an intimidating road to take in your career...
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As a technical writer, if you’re not consistently honing your abilities, sooner or later the competition will catch up to you To stay on top of your game, completing a...
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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 instance where...
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  In a previous post about quantitative vs qualitative research, I briefly mentioned A/B testing as a type of quantitative research product managers should be familiar...
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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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I was re-reading the excellent Cracking the PM Interview recently and came across a great topic to discuss for this week's post Product managers manage products of all shapes...
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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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I wanted to switch things up a bit this week and share some of my recent experiences as a PM in an innovation lab What are innovation labs These internal labs are typically found...
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Last week I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater to help out with campus recruiting It was both humbling and eye-opening to realize that I was now on the other side of...
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One of the most important responsibilities of a product manager is feature prioritization What is feature prioritization Our last post covered story prioritization using sizing...
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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 startups vs PMing at...
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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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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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There are quite a few agile development methodologies that lean companies use today Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) is a popular one that I've had the most experience...
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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 absolutely...
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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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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 overlooked in...
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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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  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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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 launch The...
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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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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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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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One of the most important aspects of delivering a solid product is making sure a lot of research goes into the effort Given the limited time and money a project has, it's...
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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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The role of a product manager is multi-faceted and product managers often work with many different groups of people in a company Of course, the extent to which product managers...
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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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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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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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A lot of our readers have been asking for advice on whether or not product management is the career for them I thought I'd first lay out a few points about common...
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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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The world of data analytics is complex and requires a lot of training and experience to master That’s especially true in the machine learning, computer science, and marketing...
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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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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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Handling the technical side of product development and management involves both in-depth technical knowledge and a natural ability to lead product teams That's where 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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