Learn more about Product Management journey and how to make it smooth.

1. www.productschool.com
How to Transition Into Your New PM
Role by WeWork Platform PM

2. FREE INVITE
Join 30,000+ Product Managers on

3. COURSES
Product Management
Learn the skills you need to land a product manager job

4. COURSES
Coding for Managers
Build a website and gain the technical knowledge to lead software engineers

5. COURSES
Data Analytics for Managers
Learn the skills to understand web analytics, SQL and machine learning concepts

6. COURSES
Digital Marketing for Managers
Learn how to acquire more users and convert them into clients

7. Akshay Ekkundi
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

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Hey!
I’m Akshay Ekkundi
Product Manager
Data Platform

9. Data Platform
Space01
Community02
Services03

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268,000
members globally
287
physical locations
72
cities
23
countries

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Past Experience:
❖ Amazon - Program Manager
❖ Enova International - Product Manager
❖ Enova International - Business Operations
❖ Panasonic Avionics - Business Analyst

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AGENDA
How to position yourself to transition to a Product
Manager role?
Being successful at your recently transitioned role
02
@wslulciuc
03
Traits of a successful Product Manager01

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Traits of a successful Product Manager

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DEFINITION
❖ The product manager is responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature
definition for that product
❖ Set a product vision and strategy
❖ Define what the product team will deliver and the timeline for
implementation
❖ Provide cross-functional leadership, most notably between engineering
teams, sales and marketing, and support

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What are some of the things I need to think about to be a
better Product Manager?

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❖ Effective communication
➢ Regular cadence of updates
➢ Setting expectations
❖ Trust
➢ Gaining Trust: Partner teams + stakeholders
➢ Trusting: Delegation of work amongst team,
❖ Leadership
➢ Rally team without formal authority
➢ Motivate, guide and support team
❖ Prioritization
➢ Learn to say no
➢ Establish frameworks, use metrics and data to back up decisions

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❖ Customer Obsession
➢ Advocate for customer
➢ Representative in the room
➢ Wear his hat
❖ Problem Solving
➢ Invent and simplify
➢ Learn to do more with less
❖ Curiosity
➢ Keep learning about customers/market
➢ Always anticipate need of customers
❖ Technical Acumen
➢ Basic principles of software development
➢ Learn about codebase to talk to engineers

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How to position yourself to transition to
a Product Manager role?

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Identify your skills
● Unique industry
expertise
● Technical or leadership
skills
● Communication and
Project management
skills

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Identify the correct opportunities
❖ Direct approach
➢ Apply for PM roles at organizations that fit the skills identified
❖ Indirect approach
➢ Apply for non PM roles at organizations that fit the skills identified

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How do I now move into Product
Management?

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Learn about the product and its customers
● Business and the
product offering
● Roadmap
● Customers
● Market
● Competitors

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Learn about the partner teams working with
Product
● Business Operations/
Product Support
● Software Engineering
● Marketing
● Legal

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Shadow Product Managers
● Day to day tasks
● Processes used
● Skills and training

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Express interest
● Do it early
● What skill-sets is the
team looking for?

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Take part in a Product Release
● Propose a feature to the product team
● Demonstrate value for your feature
● Work with PM through development cycle
● Work with PM through the release and post release
reporting

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Has this worked?

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Being successful at your recently
transitioned role

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Meet People!
● Other members of the Product team
● Engineering team
● Partner Business Teams- Marketing, Finance, Legal, etc
● Stakeholders
● Business Operations

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Learn about processes
● Product development process
● Goal planning
● Success Metrics reporting
● Communication cadence

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Learn about the Product
● Read Product documentation
● Product demos
● Current features being developed
● Product Roadmap
● Long term plans

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Learn about the Customer
● Sit in on support/sales calls
● Conduct customer interviews
● Learn about previous survey insights

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Continual Improvement
● Attend conferences
● Attend meetups
● Take classes

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Now that you are ready to take on a PM
role always remember the following..

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Ask the question: What problem am I
trying to solve?

36. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data and Digital
Marketing courses in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York,
Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Chicago,
Denver, Orange County, Seattle, Bellevue, Toronto, London and
Online