 Hey everyone, welcome to today's webinar. We're going to be talking about creating your role. This may be a first or an early start in your product management career and specifically branding for those early opportunities. My name is Janice O'Cobery. I am a director of product at Stitch Fix and I really look forward to sharing a little bit about my personal journey. But before we jump into the contents of today, just wanna set a quick reminder that this content is for educational purposes only. The opinions expressed are solely mine and they don't necessarily reflect those of my current or previous employers. For an agenda for today, I'll actually share a little bit about me and my story. And then as well, we're gonna really dive into how product rules are not one size fits all. They have a lot of flex and there's a good way that you can kind of get a sense of what's good for you. Then we'll dive into how you actually raise your hand and stretch into these first rules. And then finally, the secret sauce to succeed when you're given those opportunities. A little bit about me, I actually got my bachelor's at St. Houston State University. This was a wild bag, but really what it allowed me to do is kind of have a launch pad for a lot of my entrepreneurial projects. I didn't go to school specifically for anything in the tech world. I wasn't a computer science major, actually studied health, but I had a lot of the skills that I use today that I was using on different side projects. And so a lot of those started to kind of gather together for me as I started to take on entrepreneurial projects. Then I joined Pearson, one of my entrepreneurial projects actually led me to Pearson and grew my career, which landed me in Rhode Island at an agency. I was actually in more of a strategy growth role and I had a lot of friends who were in the tech industry and this is really at the beginning, I think of what the industry is now. And I kept hearing a lot about this idea of product and we'll kind of get into that story later, but that is the place in my career where I actually raised my hand and made a very intentional decision to go into product. That decision has led me into some really amazing opportunities in my career. I joined Hilton as a senior product manager and then Abercrombie as the same and now serve as the director of product at Stitch Fix. So I wanted to kind of show you this big picture. I think it's sometimes helpful for us to understand that sometimes our career paths are very linear and sometimes they have a lot of movement to it and I think it's just important that we leverage where we are today to get to where we wanna be tomorrow. Before we dive into some of the tactics, I'm going to share a little bit about how I actually raised my hand in my own career. So as I mentioned before, when I was at an agency, I was really focused on strategy and growth for a new region that we were in. And as I started to hear about this opportunity or this world of product, I actually didn't know a lot about it. I just knew that people in my life as friends who were entering into this space and I knew their skill sets and that they were really enthusiastic about the work that they were doing. So I did a little bit of research and many years ago, there wasn't as much product methodology and information available. So I had to do a lot of the connecting of the dots but what I found was that products seem to be this place where I could flex my natural muscle, my natural skills, do something different on a daily basis and solve unique challenges and have fun while I did it. And so what I decided to do, I wasn't ready to make a very hard turn in my career. I really enjoyed what I was doing for work. However, I did know that our agency had clients that had products even though we weren't serving them specifically in that area. And so what I did is I created kind of an internal proposal of my own to go to my leadership and raise my hand and say, I'd like to take on some of our client products. Here are the services that I think we can offer. Here's what I think we can do and here's the impact that I think I can have. So I spend a lot of time really honing in on what I was proposing to my company and what they should thus propose to their clients. But ultimately it landed me with a yes. It was the first yes in my career that allowed me to say, I'm using product management skills. It was not 100% of my focus in that role but it did increase over time. And I think this is so important as you think about using the opportunities that you may have availability right now if you are currently working, really trying to leverage those as you take the next step because again, all career decisions are not necessarily going to be linear but you wanna leverage what you have available to you. So ultimately I did get a yes. I was able to actually get into a product role in part that allowed my career to actually grow over time as that capacity of my product focus grew over time as well. So I want to show this because I think this is probably the most common product illustration in the industry typically we see product sitting in the center of these three worlds, which is business, technology and kind of this customer UX space. And I think this is a phenomenal illustration for what product managers do in the different worlds that they're listening and responding to. One amendment that I would make or maybe more so a note that I would draw your attention to is the amount of overlap between all three of these areas. What you will find when you're in a product role is that every organization has a different amount of overlap between these three functions. And so what I mean by that is in organization A you might find that the product managers tend to have a far more tech heavy focus than they do at organization B. And so the overlap for product might lean or skew into that space. Again, you might have organization B where they are radically focused on the customer sentiment and user experience. And so it will begin to skew with heavier overlap into that area. I think this is really great news because we all have unique skills, unique backgrounds and experiences that will make us better fit for some opportunities than others. So as you're thinking about the world of product I would really enjoy the perspective that product is not one-size-fits-all. So as you look at different opportunities or different open doors that may not yet even be an opportunity take some liberty with that, take some flexibility with that because you can probably either make that role better fit for what your skills are or better fit for what the organization needs. So take some flexibility with that. Now we're going to go into the actual ask stretching for the first role. I use the word stretch because I think sometimes we can think that we land into our first role but there's this soft moment of making a decision that it's what you want, perhaps raising your hand for an internal or an external role. And then actually making the stretch because you're flexing a new muscle in your skill set you may not be a phenomenal product manager yet but you have the right foundation. So we'll talk about what the stretch looks like but more practically we're gonna go over four key steps. Number one, assessing what the current need of the business is. Number two, defining what value a product role as a product manager, what you're going to bring to that team or that organization. Third, we do want to respectfully ask for the opportunity to stretch. This is the moment of asking. And then finally we want to define what success looks like and ultimately deliver. So we'll go through each of these one by one. So for one, assessing what the current need of the business is. This is often one of the most underutilized steps of the process and it's probably the most important. So we know that we might have this aspiration to be a product manager, maybe it's our first time or we're looking to make a key next step in our career for a new role or a new opportunity. And so we can be really close to our perspective around what we're looking to get. I would challenge and this is to myself as well is that we want to also flip the lens and think from the business perspective. So if you're working in an organization today you really want to think about what are the business needs agnostic to being in product or in a specific function just what is the business needing today? You might find that a business is in a place of growth where they need to be very ambitious about acquisition or growing the business. You might find that one business is really trying to narrow in on what's most important to them and get really good on a few key things versus the whole universe of things that can be done. When you're in the organization I think you have a really great seat to see these opportunities or these needs more clearly but even if you are external really tap into market trends and really put yourself in the viewpoint of someone who's working in the center of that business so you can figure out what those needs are. Go ahead and write that down. Sometimes we make mental notes and it's not as concise or clear as we needed to be but why we want to do this is because when we're looking at taking on a new opportunity or even raising our hand for a new opportunity we're going to need to be able to speak from both perspectives, both our own of what we're going to bring to the table but most importantly what benefit the business is going to have and we'll get into that in step two. So the summary here is be really clear or intentional about understanding the needs of the business of the organization you're trying to impact. Two, we want to define what value a new product role is going to bring to the team. Again, I think it is so important that we get very tactical about this and we really think about more than just how we're going to benefit from having that role or having that opportunity but we think about how that team is going to benefit from having us there. So I'll use a similar example that I shared in the last step. If we know that a team or an organization has been really focused on doing many different things the value that a new product role might be able to bring to the team is to help the teams have focus working on the most important work first or being able to make hard decisions as to why we should work on this thing first or this thing now. These are foundational product skills that sometimes we overlook but ultimately it's going to help you propose to your leadership or to an external opportunity why you should be in that seat. So you want to be very clear about what value you're going to bring to the team and the organization in addition to the personal value that having the opportunity is going to bring to your career. So always constantly challenge yourself to flip that coin. Once you know what value you're going to get yourself flip the coin and really think about it from the team perspective, the business perspective. And again, you want to be very clear about what that value is. So the challenge that I make for myself is I bullet everything out and if I can't say it in a single sentence I really kind of need to hone in on what I'm trying to communicate to my audience. For the next one, this is the big step. This is the big ask. So we want to respectfully ask for the opportunity to stretch. This is probably where I hear the most questions from those in my network around how do you actually ask? Well, we want to reference steps one and steps two. We want to make sure that when we're asking we're not only speaking from our own perspective of I would like this opportunity we really want to start to wrap in how we're going to be able to help the team by meeting the business needs step one. So take the business needs that you gathered then take the benefit you're going to bring to the team and really swaddle that in your ask. This may sound something a bit like I'm really excited for the opportunity to grow my career in this organization. I know that the company has XYZ business needs and this is really interesting to me. I think that if I can step into a more product focused role or onto the product team I can bring X value to help solve that initial need. So that's how I would probably frame the ask so that all three of those elements your benefit, the business need and the team value I can swaddle all of those together to make the right recipe for the ask. As well I think a lot of times leaders we really value when someone is conscientious of what they're asking for beyond themselves and they're really thinking about the impact that they're going to draw. So I would make sure that I have those elements together. In addition to that, I think we have to be open to a response. So of course we want to hear a yes you might find that someone immediately says yes or they say pull together a plan and let me know how you want to do that or what that looks like. Be responsive to that and be open to different responses that you may not have planned for. Something that I think is really helpful as well is trying to maybe strip out a little bit of the jargon when you make this ask. So for instance as product managers we probably tend to drop the words methodology or prioritization or road maps really casually but instead of saying something like I'm going to be focused on road mapping you may say something like I'll be focused on execution plans to help the team stay on track. It just almost eliminates a little bit of the filtering or interpretation needed for someone to hear your case really clearly and tie it back to very base needs. No matter what function your audience may be in they understand that. So before we move on I think the key takeaway here is you have to raise your hand, you have to make the ask and make an ask that extends beyond just the value that you get and be open to feedback no matter what it may be. Finally, we want to define what success looks like and we want to deliver. This is so important before let's say you get an ask but before you actually move into an opportunity I would just take a moment to think about what does success look like? And this may be something that you seek out internally this may also be something where you ask your leadership but their expectations are that moment of alignment and really in some ways inspiration can really help you to keep focus as you start to embark or stretch into this new skill set or this new opportunity and role. So I personally like to see quantitative metrics of success for myself because it just keeps me very focused but there might be some qualitative metrics of success. So I'll start with the quant. If I'm really focused on perhaps a very specific feature I have a good idea of what metrics I want to hit with that feature. And so those metrics are much easier to track. On the qualitative side it might be like in a roadmap scenario it might be that you're a little bit more focused on making sure that the team has focused. So that's a little bit harder to measure but what you could do is just ask your colleagues hey are you feeling more clear about what we're working on and why? So you need to figure out for you and your team the opportunity which side of the house you wanna kind of build success metrics around whether that be quantitative or qualitative but regardless of what you determine is best for you the most important part is you want to deliver. So I like to make metrics that perhaps I come back to in 30, 60 and 90 days but I don't wanna just look over those metrics on my own I wanna look over those metrics and then go back to my initial audience to say you gave me an opportunity to do this and now I've delivered it you wanna be able to go back and evangelize how that opportunity you did what you said you were going to do you added value and that's how you actually increase your scope. So perhaps you got a yes where only 25, 50% of your capacity could be focused on product or you could shadow for X amount of days with a product team that's okay this still applies you wanna take whatever you've been given and then return back with your ability to deliver on what you set out to do and that's how you make room for more capacity or more trust in what you're asking for over time. No place in your career are you never kind of cycling this process where you've been given an opportunity and you're returning back saying I delivered with that opportunity that I was given. Finally, I also think that a lot of leaders will really appreciate the fact that you followed through not just to get the ask or get the opportunity initially but you're really closing the loop and reminding them why they made that better why they made that opportunity and gave it to you specifically. So I think it's just incredibly beneficial for you and your career no matter where you are in your career. Next I wanna go over some secret sauce skills to succeed. So you can use the skills that you have now to bolster your product career you do not have to wait for a perfect title. I think this is probably one of the key things that I want you to remember you have skills and experiences right now even if you have not been in a product role that you can use to bolster your product career or a case to start to nurture your product career. So I'm gonna talk through just a couple that always stand out to me that I think sometimes we overlook them but they're so beneficial as we think about why someone would be a great product manager or how they flex the skills to do some of the challenging work that product entails. So the first one is strategic thinking and I specifically mean the flexible thinking of being able to be macro and very tactical. So that mental flex of being able to kind of rise out of the weeds and see the big picture think strategically and act on that that's something that is not exclusive to product so I want you to think through your personal career how you might have used your strategic thinking skills in order to move work along or to make decisions that were high impact that is a skill set that you can use and emphasize say in your resume or with your internal leadership or with different opportunities that will help bolster your product career as well communication skills. Product people are communicators. You must be able to evangelize and inspire and clarify and simplify for your audience. Your audience will always shift and be different and so many different roles even outside of product are constantly using communication skills. So feel free to reference some of those accomplishments that you've had earlier in your career and highlight those in your product in the case for you to be a product manager or to move into a new role. These are skills that you've probably been using and developing over years that you can use as you think about your next moving product. As well technical expertise, this is another one that you don't have to be in product to really get just a comfort with technology. So definitely lean into that and if you do already have that, highlight that. That's going to make you a really great product manager and I specifically am thinking about that illustration that we went through that shows how different roles are going to lean into tech or into business or into the customer space more heavily based on the organization that you're in. If you have those skills, use that to really bolster your career. Then as well customer centric focus. This is much like the tech expertise. This is something that I think sometimes we don't really think about but if you really have a strong sentiment towards your users or to your customers, these are things that are not limited to product but will help you flourish in your product career. And then finally prioritization. Prioritization is something that we will deal with in all areas of life, even outside of our work and career and if you have developed strong skills to be able to make clear and decisive decisions around what you prioritize, especially when things are limited or resources are limited. Again, this is a skill that's going to help you be a strong product owner. So feel free to highlight those experiences as you think through your next opportunity. In summary, I wanna go over four key takeaways for us. The first is there is no one size fits all. You have to be willing to look at product roles for what they are. And it might not always have the word product on top of it. Some organizations don't even have product teams. You can maybe be the first but really look at opportunities with a sense of openness so that you can see that three prong illustration we talked about. So you can see that and it's different forms because it is always going to look different depending on what opportunity is in front of you. As well, no predefined path. Use your creativity and skills in order to get your foot in the door for your first or your next move in your career. As well, raise your hand. No one can read our minds. So sometimes we have to raise our hand and say, I want that opportunity or I see an opportunity here. May I tell you about what I see? Can we talk about that? And that's how you grow your career or one of the ways in which you grow your career. And then finally, deliver with what you have. Resources will always fluctuate. So be focused on delivering value above all no matter what the circumstance or the environment is. Really be value focused and you will do extremely well in your career. So that's all we have today. Thank you so much for joining me.