AMA: GitLab Group Manager, Product Management, Melissa Ushakov on Product Management Career Path

The answer here is extremely nuanced and will vary from situation to situation. There's a phrase from Graham Weston that has stuck with me from my time at Rackspace: “What we all want from work is to be valued members of a winning team on an inspiring mission.” When that phrase no longer rings true for me, and I see no way to achieve that in my current role, it's time to look for opportunities within the company. If there is no way to achieve this within the company, then it is time to look for opportunities externally.

One question I love to ask is: "Tell me about a time when a conversation with a customer made you realize that your product direction was wrong." I have heard so many great stories about dispelling assumptions by talking to customers. One of my favorite stories was when a PM did generative research about the biggest problems their users faced with their product. They found that the feature that they were planning to spend the greater part of their upcoming capacity on was not mentioned at all! When the PM brought up the feature idea, users communicated that this feature was by no means at the top of their list. This PM found a whole new set of problems to solve that would be of higher value. 

One very common frustration is not being able to make everyone happy. As a product manager, your job is to hear many perspectives, which may be at odds with each other, and you don't have infinite time or people to get everything done. It's so tempting to invest a little in many areas in an attempt to move them all forward. When PMs (myself included) feel this way, it's critical to remember that the most important thing a product manager can provide is focus and space to solve the problems that will make the biggest business impact.

It's important to be transparent with your manager about your career aspirations and then align on the criteria for a promotion. Create an actionable plan to close any gaps and track progress against it. I have had these conversations with my manager several times over the years to prepare for my own promotions, and conversations I've had with my team now as a manager. At GitLab, we have a career development framework that outlines competencies and levels https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/product-manager-role/product-CDF-competencies/ . We have check-ins every 10 weeks to outline progress against each competency and have discussions about long-term career goals. 

Before gaining influence, you have to gain your team's trust. One question I love to ask when I join a team is: "What are the biggest challenges the team experiences? How can I help?". Gather this information from many members of your team and people the team collaborates with. Usually, I can derive a list of action items based on their answers, and I can suggest a few more things that I can do to help. In this initial conversation, focus on what you can do and not what you think they could change. Then follow through on your action items, using your best judgment and discretion if there are sensitive topics. This simple process allows you to learn more about team challenges, demonstrates your commitment to the team, and will help the team improve. This leads to increased trust, which leads to increasing your influence. 

Working at GitLab for the last three years has shown me that fully remote teams can work and be highly effective. Teams at GitLab are remote and highly distributed and work asynchronously first. For example, we run all the typical agile ceremonies (refinement, spring planning, sprint retrospective, standups, etc.) asynchronously. This way of working provides a high degree of documentation for all decisions, allows for greater collaboration, and more thought to be put behind critical decisions. Read more about how to approach remote work in GitLab's remote team playbook: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/ 

There are a couple of things that make some candidates stand out from the rest: * User-focused: The most successful product managers are those that think deeply about people and want to understand them to build great products. Product managers should have contact with end users in some capacity at least once a week, and that's what I prefer to see in candidates for roles in my team. What user contact means will depend on whether they are experienced product managers or new to the role. Almost every role out there has someone that consumes the work you produce. Think about how you interact with them on a day-to-day basis. Are you gathering feedback to make their lives easier? What changes have you made recently to adjust to their needs? * Ability to learn: As a PM, you will be constantly challenged to learn about new markets, technology, and customer problems. I like to see interest and self-motivation for learning. Think about the last time you had to learn about a new space or skill. What was your motivation? How did you go about prioritizing what you had to learn? What resources did you use to gain skills/knowledge? * Creative problem-solving: Great product managers are resourceful, creative, and explore all avenues to solve customer problems. I like to ask about the last great product challenge that a candidate solved. Bonus points if the solution included cross-functional collaboration and coming up with solutions that were not software. 

Domain experience is not at the top of the list of things I look for in a candidate. I have changed domains a couple of times in my career and it has helped me get a richer perspective. For this reason, I prefer to see some variety in product management candidates. Domain experience can be a challenge in some scenarios and I have faced this problem in the past when interviewing for roles. There are a couple of techniques I have applied: * Do enough research to learn the fundamentals. It is important for you to be able to have basic conversations on the topic to have a successful interview. It also shows that you are proactive and interested in this domain. * Take some time to outline a plan for how you would learn about this space. Create a document that you can share proactively with the hiring manager and if the topic arises with others. * As I mentioned in another one of my answers, it's important for product managers to demonstrate the ability to learn new things. Talk about how you have learned new skills in the past. Specifically call out in your resume when you've had to learn a new domain or skillset for a role. * While you may not have domain knowledge, there's other relevant experience that you bring to the table. Domain knowledge isn't everything! Think about the best way to position your background with the company/role. Ask the interviewers what they are looking for in the ideal candidate. Then talk about how you would bring that to the role.

TL;DR - Be clear about what you want to learn and then ask for help. You'll find most people are eager to help others grow. Before finding a mentor, it's critical to think about what you are hoping to accomplish with mentorship. I think of it almost like writing the job description and measures of success :). Based on that job description, you can now determine who would be the best people to fill that role. Who is an example of the traits you want to have, or who has accomplished what you want to accomplish? If you are seeking structured and recurring mentorship from executives who are likely busy, approach them with a clear set of goals and reasons why you think they are the best people suited to help you. Mentorship isn't always a structured process though. I have found a ton of value in peer mentoring, where I have regular chats with someone in the same role as me. I also learn a lot from Product Managers in the organization who have different skills or knowledge than me. I schedule one-off coffee chats with them and bring a set of questions that I want their help with. There are opportunities for mentorship all around you!

Contributing myself and supporting my team can be at odds with each other. Coaching and supporting my team is always my number one priority. There are times when I simply need to say no and deprioritize things to ensure I have enough time to support my team. It's important to have open communication with my team about what I am working on, and it's something we talk about during our weekly one on ones. Sometimes someone on my team is interested in something that's on my plate, and they volunteer to help. For example, I was thinking about writing a blog, and when discussing the idea, someone on my team volunteered to write it. When I find my plate getting overloaded, I consider whether this would be a good opportunity and is aligned with the career goals of the PMs on my team. I recently volunteered to help with some UX research that I later found I don't have time for it anymore. This aligns with a growth area for another PM team on my team, so I brought it up to them, and they were excited about taking that on.