Tune in to listen to Steph Bigue, President at manyways.io, share the stories behind some of his best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Steph's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. The agency (consulting/contract) environment is a good place to learn a lot, from a lot of different types of customers
2. If you are the orchestrator of the project, sit between everyone and ensure the communication is constant, but avoid micro-managing
3. Find a way that you can interact with your team often and be consistent
4. Figure out what the team needs to be successful, and as the product leader, help feed that to the team
5. Ask a lot of questions shows you are focused on succeeding
6. You can't rely on email chains and threads to sort out all your problems, b/c there are certain things that come up in a person to person conversation that you just won't get to normally in written form
7. Ensure who is doing what, make sure you have clear roles and responsibilities defined, never assume
8. Asking questions is good b/c either you don't have the information, you don't know it, or you think you have the information and you're confirming it
9. Always as a PM, be as enthusiastic as possible b/c because enthusiasm is so contagious and it can keep a team rallied on a difficult project during difficult times

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Soumya Sreeram, Product Manager at Ford Motor Company, share the stories behind some of her best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Soumya's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. All industries translate to some sort of software, you need to understand the business aspects of the software
2. Have an ownership mindset b/c no one tells you what you need to do next
3. Be a people person  b/c you can not lead with control, you must be able to lead with context
4. Be very self-aware b/c a lot of unknowns can create anxiety or stress
5. Don't lose your cool when unknowns happen, think objectively, not emotionally
6. Be open to asking why questions b/c it makes people think about why they are telling you one way or another
7. Partner with the teams that you work with
8. Active listening, don't listen to respond, listen to understand
9. Present information in the right way that will raise the right meaning yet is measurable and understandable
10. Keep learning and keep your calm
11. Be agile yourself

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Whitney Knowlton, Product Manager at Dropbox.com, share the stories behind some of her best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Whitney's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. Contract roles are excellent ways to get a sense of what the real day-to-day is like
2. Don't always look for the right company, look for the right manager
3. If you want it bad enough, go learn it
4. When doing all the things, stop and ask, what's the problem you are trying to solve, just because it's on a backlog does not mean it should be
5. What are the signals you need to look for to know you are solving the right problem
6. What is the minimum scope possible to get signal
7. Learn enough so you know what to do next if you were not on the right track
8. Don't get out of practice of engaging with your customers
9. Find the link between your success metric in the business and what success means for the customer in using your product.
10. Anchor everything back to the end customer needs
11. Find something meaningful in what you do every day

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Ramki Vaidanathan, Digital Principal Product Manager at Starbucks, share the stories behind some of his best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Ramki's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. Your fundamental objective is to drive clarity from ambiguity, really get at the heart of the why
2. Getting to the right problem is half the solution
3. Why? 3 reasons; solve for a customer pain, solve for a business pain point, or initiative from a compliance/legal perspective
4. If you make a mistake; own up to it, learn from it, get better at it
5. You're only as great as your team and it truly takes a village to build an awesome product
6. Assimilate the best of your team into the product thinking
7. Iterate, iterate, iterate because progress eats perfection for lunch
8. Learn to be comfortable with incomplete information, but use data to make directional decisions
9. I don't know what I really don't know, let's figure it out together

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Nick Cheever, Divisional Vice President, Global Supply Chain Technology at Trimble Transportation (Trimble.com), share the stories behind some of his best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Nick's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. Understand the role and the scope of product before you step into those shoes because every company defines Product differently
2. Starting with the servant model lets you get TO the leadership model because then people know you're invested in them
3. Assume positive intent when leading a team through a state of change
4. Lead with transparency and openness as it makes it easier for people to connect
5. Keeping perspective, maintaining perspective, bringing your own perspective, listening to other's perspectives -  you both had a journey to get here, so it's worth listening

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Michaela Sleeth, Head of Product at Bespoke Metrics, share the stories behind some of her best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Michaela's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. If you don't tell people what you want, you're not going to get what you want
2. You own the success, and you own the failure, so don't hide from it
3. When you mess up, don't double down and get defensive
4. Check your ego at the door
5. Product managers tend to need to be a jack of all trades, master of none, and that's ok
6. So just take out just in your communications

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Jessi Alva, Product Manager at SAP Concur, share the stories behind some of her best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Jessi's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. Identify all of the different phases of Product Management and figure out what is it that appeals to you the most
2. You need to be true to yourself and think about what your skills are and then lean into those skills
3. It doesn't matter where you are in your career, you're always going to have a product that it's not going to go as planned
4. You should not be afraid to take risks and just look at those opportunities for you to reset
5. Just continue to learn and continue to feel comfortable with not knowing
6. To be influential, step back, present the data and remove the emotion out of it
7. Change comes from two places, it comes from the environment or it comes from within

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Elliott White, Head of Product at TangoCard.com, share the stories behind some of his best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Elliott's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. To be a really good product manager, you really need to be a good product manager, not a good engineer, not a good salesperson, not a good marketer, etc
2. A bunch of little features that don't align with your company vision & strategy can paint you into a corner later on 
3. Use empathy to understand your customers' gaps in order to build the solutions they need to be successful
4. Three-legged stool question, are we addressing feasibility (engineering), viability (pm), usability (design)
5. Indulge yourself in solution exploration
6. KISS - keep it simple silly - you don't have to build all the things

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to listen to Baker Baha, Product Manager at Wave HQ, share the stories behind some of his best product wisdom & career tips for new and aspiring/pivoting product managers.

Baker's product wisdom & career tips discussed in this episode

1. It's not about building the product right, it's about building the right product
2. You are as good as your team
3. Challenge assumptions
4. Embrace your growth journey

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice

Tune in to our first live AMA with Skyler Bissell who's looking for advice on working remotely while making a career pivot to Product.

Skyler's questions discussed in this episode

1. How is onboarding working in this digital era with remote being the primary work method for people that are joining new teams?
2. How do you stand out if everyone is remote?

How to contact Skyler

• Connect with Skyler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skylerbissell/

Done listening? Great, do this next...

• Tell me how you heard about the podcast with a short 2-minute survey
• Then, GO TO https://coffeewithproduct.com AND SUBSCRIBE for complete transcripts of every episode as well as even more curated product content that will help you get started and get ahead in your product career

#productmanagement #breakintoproduct #pivottoproduct #productmanagementcareeradvice