Productside Stories Season 2 Episode 10: Michelle Felice-Steele

Join us for Episode 10 of Trailblazing Women in Product Management, where host Nicole Tieche sits down with Michelle Felice-Steele, Vice President of Product Management at Experian Consumer Services. Michelle reveals her journey from content development to VP, detailing the skills and strategies crucial for product management success. With over 24 years of expertise, she explores key product management skills like harnessing customer insights, balancing innovation with technical understanding, and effective stakeholder communication. Michelle also shares valuable advice for women breaking into product management and emphasizes continuous learning as a career cornerstone. Tune in for an inspiring discussion on leadership, innovation, and career growth in product management.  . 

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The post From Vision to Impact: Innovate Like a Pro! Michelle Felice-Steele on Product Management Success appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

As a product manager, have you ever felt like a short-order cook, just waiting for customers to tell you what they want? You’re not alone. Stakeholders often bring us solutions without explaining the real problem. This rush to solutions can backfire, leading to products that only address narrow use cases or, worse, add little value. 

How do we break this “solution habit” and identify the true need? The answer lies in a problem-first mindset—taking the time to uncover needs, pains, and desires before jumping to solutions. In this article, we’ll explore essential tools and three techniques that help product managers focus on the problem. Let’s dive into creating real value rather than delivering quick fixes.  

Recognizing “Solution Speak”  

People love solutions. It’s natural to aim for quick wins and immediate progress, but this mindset doesn’t always serve us well. A key question to start with is, “What problem does this solution address?”  

The first step is recognizing “Solution Speak” from those around us. Product managers need to develop a “Spidey Sense” to catch statements like:  

• “Can you add this feature?”  
• “Can we develop what our competitor has?”  
• “We need to export reports to Excel to close this sale.”  
• “This should take three steps, not five.”  
• “Things would be easier if you just gave me…”  

These requests may seem helpful but are often symptoms, not root problems. Counter with curiosity: ask questions and explore the “why” behind each request. By cultivating curiosity, we can steer conversations toward the problem, uncovering insights that lead to better solutions.  

Techniques to Uncover Real Problems  

Once we recognize “solution speak,” the next step is to dig deeper. Here are three powerful techniques to help product managers upskill and uncover underlying problems:  

1) Interviews & Observation  

Direct user interactions reveal valuable insights. Observing users in their real environment allows us to see frustrations, bottlenecks, and workarounds that users might not label as problems. Interviews and observations help you see the whole picture.  

Pro Tip: Teresa Torres’s article, “Customer Interviews: How to Recruit, What to Ask, and How to Synthesize What You Learn,” is a great resource. It offers actionable advice on creating effective customer interviews and uncovering the deeper motivations and challenges behind user requests.  

2) The 5 Whys Technique  

When stakeholders suggest solutions, remain curious and use the “5 Whys” technique. Start with their proposed solution and ask “why” until you reach the underlying problem.  

Pro Tip: Asking “why” repeatedly may feel forced; instead, consider questions like, “What alternatives have you tried?” or “What are the consequences if this solution isn’t implemented?” These questions help you discover the real problem beneath the surface.  

3) Framing the Problem Clearly  

After identifying the problem, communicate it effectively to stakeholders. Use a problem-framing template to center discussions around the user’s experience and capture the issue’s full context.  

Here’s a simple template to try:  

• I am… (Who is the user experiencing this problem?)  
• Trying to… (What goal is the user trying to achieve?)  
• But… (What is stopping them?)  
• Because… (Why does this obstacle exist?)  
• Which makes me feel… (How does this make the user feel?)  

Example: “I am a product manager trying to gather data from different departments, but I can’t access it quickly because the system is slow, which makes me feel frustrated and unproductive.”  

This complete problem statement tells a story, allowing you to better communicate user needs and motivate meaningful solutions.  

Final Thoughts  

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

– Albert Einstein  

This quote from Albert Einstein perfectly captures the mindset product managers need. We’re often asked to jump to solutions, but creating lasting value requires understanding the problem deeply. By recognizing “solution speak,” applying techniques to uncover real issues, and framing problems from the user’s perspective, we shift our focus from quick fixes to meaningful value.  

Ready to put these frameworks into action? Download the ProductSide Playbook for access to a problem-framing template, along with other powerful tools and templates to guide you in making better, user-centered decisions. Empower yourself to lead with clarity and create products that customers love.  

The post How to Upskill as a Product Manager: 3 Frameworks for Problem-First Thinking   appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

In the ever-evolving world of product management, the quest to become a proficient coach and consultant knows no bounds.

As product managers, our reach extends beyond borders and cultures, and it is crucial to understand and adapt to unique perspectives of those we teach and advise.

Dean Peters, a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, shares his valuable insights from his recent teaching endeavors in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and his dedication to fostering a global understanding of product management.

Approaching Product Management in the East

As a respected figure in the product management profession, Dean recently embarked on a journey to Saudi Arabia. He engaged with a group of dedicated product managers, imparting the principles of product management. His commitment to spreading knowledge goes far beyond regional boundaries, as later this year, he is set to teach optimal product management on an international scale. Dean’s track record includes leading agile product management cohort with participants residing in various corners of the world.

The experiences Dean encounters during these global teaching ventures serve as a testament to the importance of cultural understanding. He reflects on the numerous opportunities he’s been fortunate enough to have throughout his career, collaborating with and mentoring individuals from diverse backgrounds. These experiences have emphasized a critical lesson – if he fails to adapt his instruction to align with the culture, learning styles, language, business, sports, arts, and even the food preferences of his audience, success and execution remain unattainable. Dean highlights his belief that, as a product management coach and consultant, the key to reaching full potential goes hand in hand with taking time to understand your audience’s unique worldview.

A Refreshing Approach

Dean’s approach is refreshing, as it encourages the breaking of stereotypes. He stresses the importance of letting go of pre-conceived notions and the need to go beyond westernized comforts. He shared the value he found in embracing local culture, even if it means starting the day with breakfast choices like Medames and Dim Sum. Dean shares a clear message: embracing diversity and immersing oneself in the local culture, no matter how unconventional it may seem, is a crucial step toward fostering effective cross-cultural communication and success in the field of product management.

Hear more directly from Dean, talking about his recent experience overseas. To delve deeper into Dean’s experiences and insights, we encourage you to read his original LinkedIn Post HERE.

How do I teach product management outside of the U.S. without being the `Ugly American?` Perhaps it starts with enjoying Hummus & Dolmas for breakfast! As odd as that sounds, I think it’s important for those of us called to coach & consult to see the world through the eyes of those whom we instruct & advise. I’m in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia this week teaching some smart & hard-working product managers digital product management. Later this year, I’m teaching optimal product management abroad, and I recently I led a fantastic agile product management cohort with folks from around the planet.

These events remind me of similar experiences in my past, as I’ve been blessed throughout my 30-year career with opportunities to collaborate & mentor people around the globe. Awesome instances that taught me that if I don’t take the time to see my instruction through the lens of their culture, learning styles, language, businesses, sports, arts and culture … and food … then how can I expect them to succeed and execute on what I have to offer? The bottom line is, I can’t. And if that means not staying in Westernized hotels, not clinging to Americanized comforts, and yes … even if it sounds contrived … if it also means enjoying Medames or Dim Sum for breakfast, then bring it on!

BTW, the Dolmas & Hommos pictured above was SPECTACULARLY DELICIOUS!!! How about you? Why not share below in the comments? Oh, and if I’m in your time zone, let’s set up a call. If I’m in your city, let’s enjoy some coffee or tea … even if it’s not `Americano` style ????

Dean Peters serves as a shining example of the Productside’s commitment to fostering a global perspective in the field of product management. Embracing Diversity, adapting to new environments, and savoring unique experiences are essential facets of teaching and consulting in the ever-expanding world of product management.

The post Mastering Global Product Management: A Cultural Sensitivity Approach appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

One of the best ways to learn more about a topic is to teach it to someone else. We see this all the time in our product management classes, where one student is able to help another based on their knowledge and expertise. Walking someone through a process not only teaches them the steps, but also reinforces your own learning. In this article, we’ll discuss ways to leverage your strongest product management skills and share your knowledge through mentorship, writing and speaking engagements.

What are the strongest Product Management skills?

In our recent Product Management Skills – Benchmark Report, which surveyed over 1,650 product managers across the globe, we were encouraged to see that the three strongest skill areas for product managers were domain knowledge, customer understanding and communication. Domain knowledge makes sense as a high score for a product manager. Hopefully in your career, you come from a field of expertise where you deeply understand that market space. We were also encouraged by the fact that customer understanding was such a strong skill. And, we teach this in our training. If you don’t first understand your customer, there’s no way possible you’re going to build the right product. Written and verbal communication skills are key to becoming a successful product manager, so it was great to see that rise to the top three.

Become a Mentor for others

Mentoring others and demonstrating thought leadership through writing and speaking are great ways to not only strengthen these skills, but also advance your career. In our Women in Product Management blog interview series, successful VPs of Product Management have all shared the importance of having a mentor and being a mentor for others. Mentorship comes in many forms, from practical advice on presenting to a key stakeholder to general encouragement and support. For example, Soni Meinki, SVP of Product Management at Optum said, “the greatest piece of advice I ever got was to go to meetings early, especially the important meetings. Sit near the person that is running the meeting, whether it is a C-level person or CEO. Make sure that you’re in their purview and make sure that you give your opinion. Be prepared and give your opinion, because you will be seen in those meetings and you will start to get respect.” That’s great advice to pass on to the next person that she mentors.

Mentoring can also help you to practice your skills as you teach them to your protégé. This is particularly true when you are practicing ‘next bench’ or ‘swivel chair’ coaching, where you’re working side by side with a new person on your team. This type of mentoring is great to practice your product management skills – whether it’s helping to write a requirements document or attending a retrospective. Sharing not only how to do these tasks, but also the why behind them helps to solidify your own knowledge.

Be a Thought Leader

Writing thought leadership articles, white papers, blog posts or even books are great ways to deepen your product management skills. Most marketing teams would welcome an offer from team members to write blog posts for the company – especially if you have expertise in your field! I often advise coaching clients who want to change industries or move into a leadership position within their industry to create a thought leadership plan.

As mentioned in a recent Business News Daily article, What is Thought Leadership, and Why Does it Matter?: “Thought leadership is not something you create overnight. It takes a lot more than one blog, social post or networking event to cement yourself as a trusted figure in any field.” This is why you have to develop a plan. Consider the particular topics or areas of expertise that you are already strong in, and what it will take to become an expert, where you can contribute something new to the topic. Then develop a content calendar of topics over some period of time in coordination with your Marketing team.

Whether it’s about your industry or your favorite roadmapping tool, put your writing skills to work and get published. Great places to post your articles are LinkedIn PM groups and Facebook PM groups. Start reading and commenting on articles written by others in your field. If you’re really ambitious, consider writing a book about your industry, technology, or product management role.

Speak up! (at events)

Speaking at industry events is a great way to share your product management knowledge. Most major metro areas hold ProductCamp events, which are one-day unconferences. An unconference is designed to allow participants the opportunity to submit a topic to present and then attendees can vote on which topics they want to attend. You can also search for product management groups on Meetup.com and offer to speak at one of the meetups. ProductCamps and Meetups are great places to practice your public speaking skills, and give back to your product management community.

Giving back is its own reward

By sharing your skills with others through mentorship, writing, or speaking, you take your own skills to the next level. We hear this repeatedly from experts in the field – that in giving, they get more back in return. How will you leverage your product management skills to help strengthen your peers, local community, or even the entire profession of product management?

The post 3 Ways to Leverage Your Strongest Product Management Skills appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

Productside Stories Season 2 Episode 9: Aruna Adhikari

Join Rina Alexin as she hosts Aruna Adhikari, Head of Product Clinical Technologies at IQVIA, for a deep dive into the lessons and philosophies that shaped Aruna’s successful career in product management. In this episode, Aruna shares insights from over two decades of experience, including her journey from electrical engineering to becoming a celebrated product leader in life sciences, recently named one of the “100 Most Inspiring People” by Pharma Voice. Discover Aruna’s approach to leading with empathy, embracing humility, building cross-functional trust, and fostering a tenacious drive for innovation. Whether you’re an emerging product manager or a seasoned executive, Aruna’s story and wisdom offer valuable guidance on achieving meaningful, impactful product leadership. 

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The post Mastering Product Leadership: Wisdom, Humility, and Grit with Aruna Adhikari appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

In B2B, Sales is your #1 customer.

No, no, no… Sales is not our customer! They constantly insist that all the deals we lose are due to features, price, or because our literature sucks. It’s like they’ve never heard the phrase: ‘The selling starts when the customer says NO.’

Do you see how this thinking takes you exactly nowhere?

Bottom Line – It’s like a marriage.

If you’re in a B2B market the chances are that you won’t be successful unless your Sales Team is successful. There is misinterpretation of action, lack of communication, plenty of opportunity for frustration… but you are co-dependent. If you can make it work – Bliss. If you can’t – Hell. What’s more, since you can’t divorce Sales, you have to make it work. Here’s how to work toward that happy marriage.

Create a Partnership-Driven Feedback Loop

You’ve got to create a partnership-driven feedback loop with sales. Otherwise, there is just a long list of demands for stuff that sales says they want, which they may or may not actually need, and which they probably won’t use. Of course, you can’t do it all, so both parties just continue talking past one another.

So, how do we get that collaborative, ‘partnership-driven’ relationship going? Do two things:

Create a Sales-Centered Journey Map

You have to establish that partnership-driven feedback loop on the back of a tangible artifact- a sales-centered customer journey map.

To create that initial map, work with sales leadership and a couple of the best sales staff to hash it out together. Use the journey map model discussed in the blog: How to Create a Powerful Customer Journey Map. Focus on how sales interact with prospects & customers within each segment and for each Persona that requires a different process.

This intensive discussion(s) will reveal what really happens throughout the sales process, which resources really get used or not used, and where gaps exist. You establish a common language with sales, understand the key articulation points in the sales process, and thus can then talk specifically about what can better support the sales team.

In the end, the priorities will become clear to everyone. Moreover, you’ve also established a baseline from which ongoing discussions can stem—the journey map anchors discussion, rather than simply orbiting around this week’s wish list.

Establish a Rotating Sales Roundtable

Next, set up a regular sales roundtable session (at least quarterly) to hash through what is working or not working and how the customer world or competitive tactics may have changed that suggests the need for something new.

You should have a core group for these sessions that includes non-sales folks too (e.g. product, marketing, customer service, and perhaps others). Importantly, you should invite one or two extra sales people to participate in each session who haven’t participated before- in order to keep things fresh. These folks participate for one session, then are replaced in the next.

The session focuses on the sales-centric journey map.

This keeps the discussion focused and results in a changed map where everyone can see and agree to the key influence points and tactics needed for each event in the customer’s journey.

To gain enthusiasm from sales for these sessions, keep the focus positive. Ask for sales success stories. Everyone loves to share their successes. It makes them feel expert and highlights their accomplishments. You use discussion of those stories to dissect the elements that created success, and which may create success in other situations as well. Everyone wins.

With this kind of regular, refreshed, and focused dialog, the discussion changes from “We need a full brochure with everything in it!”, to something more like:

“So, at this point in the process the prospect is typically assessing us against competitors as part of their evaluation committee. So, what have you seen that works best? How can we make sure every committee actually gets just most critical comparative information/ demo/ thought leadership/ etc. that will make our advantage apparent?”

That’s the kind of focused dialog you want with sales. The kind that is partnership-driven.

What Else?

Hang out with sales people. Get to know them and establish mutual trust. You will learn far more about the intricacies of prospects and the nature of the challenges faced than your CRM system can ever give you.

(But, yes, you’ve got to look at the CRM data too.)

The post Meet Your New Partner: The Sales Team – B2B Marketing Rules appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

Productside Stories S2 Ep8: Marc Klingen

In this episode of Productside Stories, host Rina Alexin interviews Marc Klingen, co-founder Langfuse, about the complexities and best practices of AI product management. Marc shares strategies for selecting impactful AI use cases, balancing costs with quality, and avoiding common challenges that product managers encounter when working with large language models (LLMs). Discover how LangFuse’s open-source LLM engineering platform is empowering companies to build reliable, high-performing AI-driven products. This episode is essential listening for product leaders aiming to integrate AI effectively and elevate their product management strategy with practical AI insights. 

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The post Navigating AI Product Management with Marc Klingen: Key Insights from Langfuse  appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

The Out-of-Control Episode 

Good evening, my dear product managers… 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the backlog… (sinister chuckle) they’ve returned. Yes, our product management nightmares are back, and this time, they’ve spiraled deliciously out of control. 

Welcome, brave souls, to another collection of tales that haunt our noble profession. In this chilling sequel, we explore five new terrors that lurk in the shadows of our sprints and ceremonies, waiting to prey upon even the most seasoned product managers. Do gather closer, won’t you? 

The “Out-of-Control Episode” Nightmares 

…and what you can do about them, if you dare 

Roadmap Roadkill 

Witness, if you will… your carefully planned roadmap, lying mangled on the product highway, repeatedly struck by shifting priorities, emergency fixes, and executive drive-bys. Watch in exquisite horror as your strategic vision becomes nothing more than tire tracks in the dust. 

Avoiding Roadmap Roadkill 

Ah, but there are ways to protect yourself, dear friends: 

• Shift to outcome-based roadmaps, leaving features for the release plan 

• Learn how to reframe emergency solution demands into problem statements 

• Hold regular roadmap reviews with key stakeholders to gain their buy in 

The Taking of Feature 1-2-3 

How frightfully familiar… A hostage drama unfolds as critical features are held captive by warring stakeholders, each demanding their own ransom in compromises and scope changes. Time runs out as negotiations spiral endlessly into the void. 

Negotiating Feature Freedom 

The tools of liberation lie before you: 

• Use customer data to validate feature value and priority 

• Implement a simple, transparent prioritization framework 

• Discuss business success metrics when embroiled in feature hostage negotiations 

MVP from Hell 

Observe, dear viewers, what began as a simple experiment spirals into an unstoppable monster, consuming resources and growing beyond control. This creature feeds on feature creep and threatens to devour your entire development cycle. Most disturbing indeed. 

Banishing the MVP Beast 

The ritual of containment requires: 

• Define and document clear MVP boundaries and success criteria upfront 

• Create a separate backlog for post-MVP enhancements 

• Schedule weekly scope control checkpoints with stakeholders 

The Product That Wouldn’t Die! 

Most unsettling of all… Ancient code shambles through your sprints, draining resources and terrorizing development teams with its mysterious dependencies and outdated architecture. Yet it persists… 

Laying the Legacy to Rest 

The sacred rites of passage demand: 

• Track and report maintenance costs against delivered value 

• Engage in discovery motions to seek out a replacement play 

• Be ready to explain the opportunity costs lost by keeping the product alive 

The AI That Ate My Job! 

Behold, my friends, as automation creeps in silently, consuming tasks one by one, leaving product managers to question their role in an increasingly algorithmic future. How deliciously ironic… 

Taming the AI Beast 

The spells of survival include: 

• Keep Calm and focus on the problem space 

• Learn how to leverage AI tools to get real product management sh!t done 

• Stand on the shoulders of giants when shaping your winning AI product play 

Conclusion 

The Three Pillars of Control 

Gather round, as I share these sacred truths: 

Data-Driven Decision Making 

• Let metrics be your silver bullets 

• Track everything that moves 

• Never let opinions overrule evidence 

Transparent Prioritization 

• Make your process visible to all 

• Document every decision 

• Keep stakeholders involved but contained 

Outcome-Based Management 

• Focus on impact over output 

• Measure what matters 

• Communicate in terms of value 

Call to Action 

My dear product managers, don’t let these nightmares haunt your product management career. Take control of your product destiny with Optimal Product Management training from Productside. Our product management program equips you with the tools, frameworks, and strategies needed to turn these terrifying scenarios into manageable challenges. 

Visit Productside.com today to learn how our training can help you: 

• Master the three pillars of product control 

• Develop robust defense strategies against common product nightmares 

• Join a community of seasoned product managers who’ve faced these horrors and lived to tell the tale 

But wait, there’s more… (mysterious whisper) 

Are you brave enough to create your own product management horror stories? Visit our Nightmares of Product Management Movie Title Generator Prompt and craft your own tales of product terror. Share your nightmares with fellow product managers and contribute to our growing anthology of professional horrors. 

Remember, in product management, the best defense is a well-trained mind. Don’t wait for the nightmares to find you – arm yourself with the knowledge and skills to face them head-on. 

Sleep tight, product managers… and may your roadmaps remain ever clear in the darkness. (elegant sinister laugh fades out) 

The post The Nightmares of Product Management  appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

Productside Stories S2 Ep7: Anna Nuñez

In this episode of Productside Stories, host Rina Alexin interviews Anna Nuñez, Growth Manager of Sales at Databricks, to explore how product management and sales teams can collaborate more effectively. Anna dives deep into the importance of open communication between sales and product, actionable ways to streamline customer feedback, and why breaking down silos is essential for business growth. If you’re a product manager or sales leader looking to improve alignment, customer satisfaction, and product development, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to discover how successful product management and sales collaboration can fuel business success. 

Listen on the podcast channel of your choice

The post How to Build a Strong Relationship Between Product Management and Sales with Anna Nuñez appeared first on Productside | Product Management Courses & Training.

For our next installment of our Women in Product Management Series, I interviewed Angela Fleming, VP Product at FreeAgent.  

Nicole:  Welcome, Angela, thank you so much for sharing your insights and journey through the world of Product Management.

Laura: Thank you, Nicole, for having me. It’s a real pleasure to join you.

I’d love to start with how you got into Product Management.

I’ve been in Product Management for over 14 years now. I began my career somewhat by chance. My route to becoming a Product Manager was not traditional or linear. I didn’t come from a tech background, which is more conventional. I came from the business side. I worked in the automotive sector in the retail space doing marketing CRM. Then I moved to an automotive tech company where I took on a business consultancy role. I was a customer of the software, then I became a consultant helping people just like me use the software. I worked alongside different departments within the tech company, giving feedback from customers. I left that company to work for an automotive retailer startup company, starting up the business from the marketing and CRM side. It was basically an apprenticeship on building a business for me, roll your sleeves up, get into all aspects, do everything in building that up. It was a real education for me from that business perspective. While I was there, a friend reached out to say there was a Product Management role that came up and he felt that I was the ideal person for it. I didn’t know what Product Management was, but I agreed to meet with the management team, and they explained they wanted someone to look after the marketing CRM software from a Product Management perspective. Since I had a lot of experience as a user and a consultant, it seemed like a good fit.

I love how so many roads can lead to Product Management. What is it that you really love about Product Management?

When I started, I realized that I had a passion for understanding customer problems. I think that also came from my consultancy roles that I had previously. I was translating the problems and insights into what could possibly solve the problems. It allowed me to utilize my experience because the portfolio I was looking after was marketing solutions, for example automation tools, and campaign management tools , things that I used as a marketeer on a day-to-day basis. Having that domain knowledge and that in-depth understanding of the role that I was seeking to serve was very valuable. And that’s the part I really enjoy, understanding what that problem is, really digging into it by going down different routes, bringing out your assumptions, and then discovering things you didn’t even consider. That built up my experience as a Product Manager, but also my knowledge of the product development process and product strategy, thinking big picture, long term. That’s what started to really excite me.

From your past experience looking ahead, what is really inspiring you about Product Management today?

When I started, the engineering side was king. A lot of tech companies didn’t really have Product Management representation. Now, the desire for people to move into Product Management is really strong. Technology is growing so much, new startups every day, new ideas, the opportunities are fantastic. There’s a confidence—I’ve got an idea, I see a problem, I think I know how to solve it, and I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and pursue that. That’s very inspiring.

I love books and listening to podcasts. One book I always recommend is, “Escaping the Build Trap”, by Melissa Perri. I find her work very inspiring and insightful. She shares the importance of shifting focus from outputs to outcomes. That’s had a profound influence on my approach to Product Management, focusing on the value we’re bringing to the problem we’re trying to solve. She wrote another book with Denise Tilles called “Product Operations”, which is a new function I introduced into our organisation at FreeAgent at the start of the year. Her book was really insightful for our journey to move into that function as well.

Great recommendations. Can you give us some examples of how you have moved from outputs to outcomes?

At Free Agent, we use the Jobs-to-be-done framework, focusing on what job the user is trying to achieve and how best to serve that job. Your customers will have a variety of different jobs, for example core jobs that are must-haves, and more secondary jobs. We are very focused, and we use jobs-to-be-done in all aspects of the way we work. We constantly refer to it as we build a strategy around the core jobs that we’re seeking to support. It’s definitely a framework I recommend using. It helps you to really focus on that, the task of your user, your customer, and the value that you want them to have from using your solution to do that particular job. It allows you to focus on that value.

In implementing this framework, tell me about working with other stakeholders in the company. Many folks in Product Management might not have authority, but they need to influence other stakeholders. Can you share an example of how you and your team are doing that?

With the jobs-to-be-done framework, you also have the ODI, or Outcome Driven Innovation, that focuses on how well a particular job is served, the satisfaction level versus the level of importance. That’s something we introduced with our user research team in the past 18 months. We’ve been looking at that ODI analysis across different customer channels. They also use jobs-to-be-done in their ways of working, but bringing in that satisfaction versus importance level to get a scoring helps us prioritise. Our user research team is part of our design side across our product, design and engineering org, so that’s an example of us working closely together to find that information in order to make the right decisions going forward.

Let’s talk about hiring. I love that your former colleague reached out to you knowing you would be perfect. As VP, how do you hire Product Managers for your team? What are those attributes that rise to the top that you really like to see when you’re comparing candidates?

For me, it’s important to find people who are going to be the right cultural fit for our organisation. Questions allow us to get a bit more insight, like what about FreeAgent appeals to you, and can you share an example of a successful product you’ve launched? How somebody describes that gives us a lot of insight into the way they work. I’m looking for people who demonstrate strong empathy. If they cannot empathize with the customers they’re looking to serve and they can’t appreciate the different pain points they have, that’s a flag to me. Maybe that person is not right for us at FreeAgent. But they also need really good listening skills and can take on information and digest it. We are very data informed so having that analytical skill set is advantageous for the role because we use data for decision making. Being comfortable with using data is important.

Now I want to pivot to women specifically. We use this segment to encourage women to consider Product Management as a career. Do you have advice specifically for women?

Don’t think you need a tech background. I’ve demonstrated that’s not necessary. You learn the level of technical understanding you need for Product Management as you work with engineers. If you’re looking to break into Product Management, be proactive, and seek out opportunities to develop relevant skills. Demonstrate empathy, bring that insight into conversations across the business. Demonstrate openness to build trust within teams. Are there any product-related projects that you can be part of? Work alongside people in that role and observe.

There’s lots of fantastic books. I mentioned Melissa Perri. There’s also Marty Cagan and a great book by David Pereira, “Untrapping Product Teams”. And I always recommend finding a mentor. It’s good to have someone provide guidance and support and share opportunities through their networking. A mentor is a great advantage to have as you break into Product Management. That and networking which is vital. Connect with other Product Managers through industry events, online forums and professional groups. Networking is great for hearing about opportunities where you could get a recommendation. If somebody recommends you for a role, that could help you break into Product Management. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. Diverse perspectives are incredibly valuable in Product Management.

I love all the insights and the book recommendations. Thank you so much for being with us and for sharing your passion with us today, Angela.

Thank you for having me, Nicole, I really enjoyed it.

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