Main Takeaways: Know who you are - Understand the different type of Product Managers - Realize where you fit better and what new skills you want to grow - Strategy to acquire new skills - Identify Product Manager opportunities that suit your skills

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How to Pivot into Product
Management by Expedia Group Sr PM

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10. Vivek Kumar
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

11. Product Management - How does it look
from outside?

12. Product
Management -
This is how the
market sees it
Avg PM Compensation in Seattle (60% – 120% higher than average salary)
Avg Compensation in Seattle *Source – paysa.com

13. And you
have seen
this, of
course!

14. So how hard would it be to really
pivot into product management
For me, it turned out to be not easy

15. Learning 1 –
There are many
PM roles, which
one is the right fit?
1. Growth PM – Loves the chase of finding conversion and
retention improvements e.g. Growth Marketing Manager at
Facebook
2. Business PM – Takes ideas from conception to launch e.g.
Non-Tech Sr. PM role at Amazon
3. Technical / Platform PM – Interface between engineering
teams and business PMs e.g. Tech PM role at Amazon
4. AI / ML PM – Resolve AI/ML related product problems e.g.
Search PM role at Google
5. PM on internal tools – Product Manager for internal
employee productivity tools e.g. Senior Product Manager –
Business Intelligence
6. B2B and B2C PM – Requires different skills e.g. B2C PM should
have more of UX and design chops whereas B2B PM should
have more technical chops

16. Learning 2 –
Product
Management is
beyond just UX,
Tech & Business
skills

17. Learning 3 –
There is always a
problem to be
solved but how?
Product Managers see complicated and loosely defined
problems everyday and a big part of the day goes in solving
such problems
You need frameworks to solve these problems, some examples:
• What metrics to track for your product?
✔ AARRR or AARM frameworks
• Should we invest in this product/industry?
✔ Porter’s 5 forces analysis
• Develop a product idea
✔ 5W’s and H
• Prioritization of roadmap
✔ Kano model, Weighted framework
• We need to get ROI / cost for building this product?
✔ Napkin math
• Many other frameworks for market positioning, pricing etc. e.g.
4 P’s, 5C’s, REAN etc. Which framework to use where?

18. Learning 4 –
Good Product
Managers should
always be ‘ON’
Think like a product manager all the time:
• If you liked a product then what did you like about it?
• If you didn’t like a product then what did you not like
about that product?
• How will you improve a product if you were the
product manager?
• Why do you think a feature wasn’t implemented in
the first place?
• All big tech companies want product managers who
can answer these questions about any product they
use

19. Learning 5 –
Good Product
Managers require
high Emotional
Intelligence
Product Management is inherently people-oriented hence it
requires high Emotional Intelligence to deal with people
• Product Discovery
• Understanding the real pain points of your customers
• Product Delivery
• Influencing stakeholders
• Motivating / Inspiring cross-functional teams
• Conflict resolutions between teams
• Product Marketing
• Influence customers
• Managers of product managers
• Developing and retaining talent

20. That does seem
like a lot
but there is a
method to get
there

21. So…..how do we pivot into
Product Management?

22. Step 1: Which PM role is suitable for
you?
Growth PM
- You have quant-heavy background
- You can easily isolate metrics that
drive growth engine
Business PM
- You are a good thinker and are able
to paint and see the big picture
- You can do market research and
put strategy together
Technical PM
- You can think through technical
products easily
- You can talk engineer’s language
- You have a background in
engineering
AI / ML PM
- You are equipped with good
analytical abilities
- You can easily translate user need to
problems that AI/ML can solve
Designer PM
- You understand what a good
product experience should be like
- You have a background in UX
Internal Tools PM
- Perfect starting place to build PM
skills
- You know how internal systems talk
to each other

23. Step 2: Research the role and
organizations you are interested in
- Peruse job descriptions of the role
- Connect with PMs inside these organization and understand their day-day
- Attend networking events, meet-ups where you can connect with PMs and learn
about their recent product launches.
- Review your resume and list out gaps
- Read and watch product releases from top tech companies
- Read reviews of such products, what is working and what is not

24. Step 3: Address skill gaps
PM courses designed to help with some of these skills
Hard Skills
• PM Frameworks
• Technical Skills
• UX Skills
• Analytical Skills
• Design Thinking
• AI / ML Skills
• Growth Hacking Skills
Soft Skills
• Public Speaking
• Negotiation Skills
• Conflict Management
• Leading without
authority
• Teamwork
• Ability to take feedback
• Prioritization
• Time Management

25. Step 4: Research Interview Loops
and prepare your resume
- Identify companies you want to apply to
- Understand how the interview loop works in that company
- 1 or 2 rounds of telephonic interview followed by in-person interviews. Expect 7-10
rounds of interviews if you clear telephonic round
- Different companies and roles have different formats of interviews hence
researching the company helps
- Research on Glassdoor.com for interview tips and questions
- Some literature that can help you prepare for interviews: Decode and Conquer, The
Product Manager Interview, Lean Analytics, The Product Manager Interview by Lewis
Lin.

26. Step 5: Go through the grind –
success is one step away
- If you are aiming for top companies then these interview loops can be tricky – most
companies have a cookie cutter idea of their Product Manager material
- There are multiple facets to being a Product Manager – interview failures teach you
which facet needs polishing !
- Networking that you perform in Step 2 will help you to get calls for interviews
- Always have your Product Manager hat on – cultivate a habit to spot and review
products at work and play; some interviews tend to have a rapid fire round about
products around you

27. Thank You!
Connect with me at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vekkmr/

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