23: How Product Managers Transition Into a New Role

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Ayodele Duyile (Google) and Ajith Prabhakara (Amazon) to talk about transitioning. Product managers often shift careers and when they do, they undergo different transition phases to get familiar with the role and ultimately manage the product development process.   Support for How to Succeed in Product Management is brought to you by Apptentive, which enables product managers to measure shifts in customer emotion and gather actionable feedback across the mobile customer journey. To learn more, go to Apptentive.com/UW.   What to Listen For: 00:00 Intro 02:02 The importance of proper transitioning  09:04 Work on building trust and on your listening skills 10:50 Have a 30-60-90 day goal 13:34 Setting expectations between the manager and PMs 15:24 Are product managers the CEO of the product?  19:39 PM roles differ from one company to another 22:13 Should PMs be the chief empathy officer? 27:57 The Dos and Don’ts when you transition to a new product 38:40 Set personal goals for your personal success 42:21 How do you develop effective questions? 46:14 The Five Why PMs need to focus 47:42 Leveraging data to drive the product 49:54 Engaging with people to gather an outsider’s perspective 52:52 There’s always a transition coming up in your career 53:38 Always take things step by step 55:30 How you measure success changes over time