This week, Product Faculty hosted Tina Xie, Director of Product at Salesforce, for a particular #AskMeAnything session. Tina is aware of how you can transfer up within the product world and shared her tips about how you can stand out as a PM interview candidate, how you can scale back biasing the answer to your buyer drawback, and what she seems for when hiring new PMs.

Meet Tina

Tina is a Director of Product at Salesforce, specializing of their Enterprise Expertise Tableau Functions. She was promoted to her present function after only one yr as a Senior Supervisor of Product Administration. Beforehand, she labored as a Senior Technical Program Supervisor and Enterprise Functions Operations Supervisor at Tableau Software program. Earlier than that, she was a Senior PM at Amazon, engaged on enhancing their buyer expertise by the pricing and stock administration techniques.

How can a candidate stand out with a lot of expertise in different areas, however no product expertise on paper?

I typically consider the particular merchandise, options, and area the particular person might be working in and if they will leverage their prior expertise no matter having Product Administration of their title. 

That stated, there are additionally a number of PM roles through which the particular person must be very versatile and agile with the modifications within the enterprise wants and merchandise. In these instances, I consider primarily based on their common skillsets comparable to capacity to personal a deliverable from end-to-end, how you can talk to management in any respect ranges and technical vs. non-technical audiences as examples. 

Candidates that stand out to me are those that are in a position to reveal the influence they’ve had on the enterprise and articulate their understanding of their domains, what issues they have been in a position to remedy and the way they labored cross-functionally to ship in opposition to challenges.

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Easy methods to you retain your self from making a biased resolution in your thoughts if you’re simply beginning to work on an issue/function?

I see this typically in my profession and it’s a problem, particularly the place there are heavy biases from administration or management both having sponsored stated function early with finances planning or coming into a brand new firm utilizing their prior experiences the place they’ve had successes with an method. 

I’ve seen that a number of components can enhance this subject however there isn’t one easy remedy. Just a few that come to thoughts:

1. If there may be management who can consider the answer from all sides and helps an information targeted method
2. There’s adequate information or capacity to forecast/mannequin with information to find out if that is the suitable resolution
3. Sturdy enterprise partnership to have the ability to query and collaborate to work in opposition to biases.

When taking a look at new PMs (faculty grads or alternate profession) what do you search for?

I usually have a look at if they’ve related common skillsets or enterprise and business area data that may be utilized in direction of that particular Product Administration function.  As an illustration, in case you are interviewing for a Gross sales Techniques Product Administration function, when you’ve got intensive expertise appearing in numerous B2B gross sales roles, that data of the enterprise and workflows could be utilized to understanding clients’ ache factors and must construct new merchandise and options.

As a Junior PM, most of my work is execution primarily based. How can a junior degree PM turn into good at technique features of Product Administration?

I might advocate even when your work is at present execution-based, attempting to grasp the bigger image and end-goal for every of your deliverables. Typically occasions with Junior PM roles, they’re additionally paired with a extra senior PM that owns roadmaps and is in prioritization/management discussions. I might construct that partnership and get entangled in these discussions even whether it is simply shadowing that particular person. I might additionally search stretch tasks the place you could be extra hands-on. Individually, there are a number of lessons, frameworks, and books you possibly can learn to construct these skillsets.

What’s the course of that Salesforce makes use of to prioritize consumer wants?

This can be a slightly broad query given Salesforce has an intensive record of services. It’s also a really massive firm so prioritization varies throughout groups and departments. Nevertheless, as a roadmap instrument throughout Salesforce, we comply with V2MOM. This stands for:

1. Imaginative and prescient — what do you wish to obtain?
2. Values — what’s necessary to you?
3. Strategies — how do you get it?
4. Obstacles — what’s stopping you from being profitable?
5. Measures — how are you aware you have got it?

Right here’s an article when you’re all for studying extra.

What are your ideas on overlaps between CPO and CTO within the business. Does the mix of product and technical abilities play an element, in your view?

I imagine this relies typically on the dimensions of the corporate.  In talking with friends who work for smaller firms and having labored in bigger firms, I’ve noticed that CPO, CTO and even the founding father of firms might have blurred strains of possession if the corporate is smaller. 

Nevertheless, as the corporate grows, there are better wants that completely different roles will additional fulfill. As soon as the corporate is bigger and there’s a want for each a CTO and CPO, I’ve noticed CTO typically manages the infrastructure or technical stack that runs the enterprise whereas the CPO builds the exterior merchandise and imaginative and prescient for that product. This isn’t at all times the case and varies by the corporate although. 

On the technical abilities, this may be helpful as a basis particularly earlier within the profession however as you progress additional up in management roles, I typically see administration, folks abilities, and mushy abilities are leveraged extra closely.

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What’s your recommendation for somebody transitioning from Digital Advertising and marketing Strategist to Product Administration?

I believe this depends upon how shortly you want to transition right into a Product Administration function and your ardour for particular merchandise or domains. If you’re looking for the quickest monitor, you possibly can leverage your digital advertising expertise by looking for PM roles targeted on advertising techniques. 

I’ve seen PMs transfer from advertising enterprise roles to both advertising PMs of smaller firms or APMs or Mission and Program Managers of bigger firms with a development path to finally Product Supervisor. If you wish to begin extra from scratch, with out utilizing your prior expertise, then it is going to be a slower course of and you’ll need to reveal the way you’re completely different from different candidates. 

When you get the function, I might accomplice intently with the technical groups relating to time and price estimation. Until you’re very accustomed to the merchandise and the particular workforce’s historic velocity, when you current time and price estimates with out their enter, you possibly can be signing them up for unrealistic timelines. 

As a PM, you possibly can assist with or work with the scrum grasp to drag historic velocity and make clear necessities in order that the estimates are extra correct. You possibly can additionally share how these timelines might be aggregated into a bigger roadmap and what the ultimate influence could be. It’s also possible to coordinate with the enterprise to reply open questions from the technical groups.

Which roles are the perfect stepping stones for breaking into Product Administration from a enterprise improvement background?

There are a number of completely different paths you possibly can take. I’ve seen PMs transfer from enterprise to product by being the enterprise stakeholder or enterprise specialist for merchandise that they then transition into being a PM for. I’ve additionally seen PMs go from enterprise roles into an APM, mission supervisor or program supervisor after which transfer as much as a Product function. 

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Do you have got any suggestions for sources (books, programs, bootcamps, APM packages and so forth.) that helped you grasp your craft alongside your journey?

For sources, I might advocate taking a look at a few of your high firms and what Product Administration roles record as their required abilities. Personally, I discovered my SQL certificates and data helpful after I joined Amazon.  Nevertheless, as soon as I joined Tableau and Salesforce that was not related and I’ve been working in direction of Ranger standing with Trailhead at Salesforce. After I was at Kaplan, I learn articles on income fashions and advertising product administration as a result of that was extra relevant. I believe it’s additionally necessary to continually be taught new abilities.

For extra studying recs: The 20 Most-Learn Books by High Product Managers

Any closing recommendation?

It’s been a pleasure answering questions and assembly aspiring PMs. Thanks everybody in your endurance as I attempted to reply shortly and thoughtfully to your questions. My closing recommendation could be don’t be afraid to achieve out to PMs that you simply want to be taught from or join with and continue learning in each new function and alternative.