 Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today for this webinar in collaboration with Product School. Today, we're going to be diving into this very hot topic, breaking into product management from any background. But first, a quick introduction. My name is Upasna Gautam, also known as POS, and I live in Burke remotely in Austin, Texas. I'm a product manager at CNN, where I work on the digital news platforms team, and I work on rebuilding and architecting the content management technology that delivers breaking news to the world. In addition to that, I'm a mindfulness and meditation teacher. And I also sit on the board of directors of the news product alliance, which is a nonprofit community and professional organization that works to elevate the discipline of product management in newsrooms across the globe. So we're going to dive into three things today. One is all around what the product mindset is. And then we'll get into the two most important skills to develop if you're looking to transition into product management from a non-traditional background. And then finally, we'll dive into what the biggest mistake aspiring product managers make is. First, a very quick story. My journey into product management, like many of ours is very unique. A lot of us didn't wake up, you know, when we were teenagers and say to ourselves, I want to be a product manager when I grow up. I know when I was going to school, it didn't really exist. It was very much in its beginning phases of becoming a practice and a discipline. I went into product management just three and a half years ago myself. And my previous colleague who was a product lead asked me if I would be interested in a product career. And I had never really heard of product management at that time, and I had never really gotten a full understanding of what it is that they do. And I was intrigued because I was on point in my career where I was really hungry to try something new. So I asked, you know, well, what is it that I do when they do that makes me a good fit for this? And he replied to me by saying, well, you're already doing most of it. And long story short, he was the same person who offered me a job as my current product manager role at CNN a few months after that conversation. And when I asked him why he took such a big chance on me to give me that opportunity of a product manager at the world's biggest breaking news organization, he very simply responded and said, it's because of the way you build relationships and the way that you're able to communicate cross functionally. And so I wanted to start with that story because it is kind of the backbone of this entire webinar. So we've all heard at this point that product managers are not many CEOs and that was kind of an old phrase being used to describe what product managers might do but let's talk about what we actually do and what they actually are. I like to think of product managers as a combination of a team captain and a janitor team captain because they rally their team around a single mission and janitor because you have the keys to so many different doors. And you know how to use all of those keys and what sits behind all those doors. So there's a lot of power in both of those two different jobs. And one thing to remember is that product management is a practice, and it's practitioners come from a wide variety of backgrounds. So when we think of traditional product management. A lot of product managers came from business for engineering backgrounds, whereas over the last few years we're seeing a drastic shift in the types of those backgrounds. Product managers coming from data science and journalism and marketing and sales. And now, because it's such a developed practice, anyone can actually transition into product management. The best way to break into product management is to become the product manager of your current domain, because product management is a discipline because it's a practice. You can start now. And here are the two most important skills to start cultivating in order to embody this role. I agency and mindful communication. I agency people are the ones who know how to execute and get shit done. They don't wait for the right conditions or time for something to happen or to do something. They bend reality to their will. They find a way or they make a way. Here's a great example of a low agency versus a high agency person. Someone who has low agency might say something like, let me know how I can help, whereas someone with high agency is the one who says, I did x to help you with why. High agency pms get full alignment on things like the roadmap their strategy, they set and hit deadlines on that roadmap, and they help to ruthlessly unblock blockers for the rest of their teammates so that they can succeed together. If you actually develop this critical skill, how do you develop high agency and execution skills, you will only learn by doing. So here are some things that you can do now, no matter what role you're in. If you work with the project manager, ask if you can observe or help with the project. Observe and shadow people who are excellent at shipping. How do they address meetings? How do they address issues? How do they communicate in large forums? Observe and learn them and embody those similar traits and methodologies that they have. Learn how to develop OKRs. OKRs are a pain in the butt. There's no doubt about it, but they serve as an anchor for a lot of organizations and teams when it comes to product development. Learning and understanding how to develop them already puts you ahead of a lot of those who are aspiring to be product managers. And another really easy thing that you can do is ask to listen in on user interviews. This is going to give you the insight into A, how they're conducted and B, what does user feedback look like and how do you translate it? Here's an example also of something you can do if you're aspiring to be a product manager. Let's say you love Slack. Slack is a beloved product and interpersonal communication tool in so many workplaces. And let's say your dream job is to be a Slack PM. Many of those day to day tasks that a Slack PM does are accessible to you. So do the user research. Talk to existing Slack users and learn what their pain points are. You can also define a new feature. Learn how to write a full spec for a feature that you think Slack should launch. Or you can estimate the feature's impact. Do an analysis on what impact that feature or a different feature could have. And then also very easily done competitive product tear down. Do an analysis of a competitive product in the market against Slack. These are all things that this PM is already doing, but these are things that you can also start doing now. Another great exercise to take action on is learning how to write a PRD or a feature spec. This is a great exercise because it forces you to think about why a feature should exist, what problem it solves, how it could be built and how you can measure its success. And it provides a window into how to advance a product. It shows that you're able to think short term and long term. And another option and another action item is start that technical side project. This gives you a full understanding of an end to end workflow and the entire product lifecycle. It lets you, it forces you to develop technical skills and or recruit technical talent to help you. It also provides a window into how to advance a product. And remember that when it comes to learning about product management and transitioning into the role doing is greater than watching. It's also greater than things like listening and reading. Many ways to take action just start. But the books and the podcast down. There's only so much you can learn from them and there's only so much you can learn from listening even to someone like me, but build something, no matter how small it is, you'll learn so much more from being in the trenches and being in the game or standing on the sidelines. And that's what being a product manager is all about. So let's dive into the second important skill. Mindful communication. Mindful communication is the ability to handle different styles of communication with clarity and empathy. A lot of times when we think of effective communication as a product manager, we think of being able to write clearly and speak articulately. While those two things are incredibly important, listening is actually of the greatest importance as a product manager. With mindful communication, there's this baseline understanding that life is chaotic and people forget things. And as a great product manager and one that's transitioning into the role, you want to make sure that you're not making assumptions. And this is why listening is so important because you learn to converse in the language of the listener. And when you respond, you're responding with the mindset of a teacher. Here are six questions that are really great to think about before going into conversations with customers and stakeholders when you're trying to communicate value or impact. What am I really trying to say? Why should people care? What is the most important point? What is the easiest way to understand the most important point? How do I want the person to feel? And what do you want the person to do next? When you start to think of these questions and as you enter every important stakeholder conversation or a user testing situation, this forces you to get really, really clear on what it is that you're trying to say. Remember that there is power and brevity. When you're communicating and you're communicating across your teammates, customers and your stakeholders, adopt a framework and make sure that it is memorable, repeatable and vivid. So that when people see a message coming in from you or a conversation from you, it's in your style and it's in a way that is short and sweet, but it's also super, super clear. So for example, in emails, cut and clarify and then do it again and make sure that your most important point that you're trying to make is upfront. Bottom line, upfront always. And actually that point should be in all of the other parts of this slide as well, whether it's a document or a presentation or a meeting, keep your important point upfront. In documentation, make sure you're getting feedback before sharing widely. And most importantly, make sure it is easy to scan little things like how a document is formatted makes a huge difference in readability. And then when it comes to presentations and meetings, ask yourself if it's necessary, then ask yourself again, make sure that there are clear goals to find agendas and follow ups. Again, because you can embody the mindset of a product manager right now, no matter what you're doing, these are all skills that you can start to cultivate right now as well. One important communication tool in product management is smart repetition. To make messages stick, people need to hear them multiple times, but not necessarily in the same way. So make sure you're delivering your messages early, consistently and frequently. Be a broken record. And as I mentioned before, find a framework that works for you, keep it consistent and make sure your formatting is super clear. Remember, when you're communicating, the whole point is to deliver value and impact. No one cares what you can do, they care about what you can do for them. It sounds kind of negative, but when you really learn what this means and how it impacts the way you communicate, every single time you communicate, you will be delivering value if you can adopt this mentality. So here's the biggest mistake I've seen aspiring PMs make after mentoring and coaching hundreds over the last three years. Too much emphasis on your previous or current role and not enough emphasis on the role you want. What do I mean by that? You're LinkedIn, your resume, your actions, your words should be screaming that you are ready to be a product manager. Cut out everything that doesn't transfer to the PM role you were applying for and streamline everything to align with that role that you want. The best way to break into product management is to become the product manager of your current domain. Make sure you're talking the talk and walking the walk, that is half of the game, right? So remember, you don't need permission to embody this role. You can start today and the best way to start is to take action. With product management, the best way to learn is by failing because failing gives you feedback and that feedback is something you can use to optimize the way that you build a feature or launch a product or develop a spec. And that is the experience that is of utmost importance, not how many certifications you have or how many books you've read. It's what have you built. And so if you take away anything from this session today, it's to put down the books in the podcast and go build something and get that experience from action and not from standing on the sidelines. Thank you so much for joining today. I'd love to stay connected and answer any further questions. It's very easy to find me on social media. I also share lots of content across social media on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and would love to connect there to continue the conversation. My handle is my first and last name and I hope to see you online to continue the discussion about how to transition into product management. And I hope to help you further on your journey there. Thank you.