Krista S.

👋 Hey product hiring managers! You may have noticed dozens of people now with a new certificate from the Alberta Product Leadership Program. If you manage or are prospectively seeking a new PM to join your team, you should know that: 1) The program is selective. You can't just sign-up. Since it's inception, the program has sought to upskill professionals that have shown their motivation for growth and desire to hone their product management craft. 2) The graduates get broader exposure to practices and industries beyond their resume. Our sessions are interactive and facilitate sharing of perspectives and ways of working across multiple organizations - from grassroots startups to FAANG giants. 3) There's more to it than training. During the course of the program, many participants gain mentorship, build a supportive peer group, and get out of their comfort zone. The program is refreshed every year by hiring managers just like you to optimize for the skills we need to hire and promote for. So if you see the APL certificate with a candidate profile, know that candidate choose to do more than your average course. #abtech #yyctech #yegtech #productmanagement

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Question to product ops people (I'm looking at you May Wong Graham Reed ) Something I rarely see spoken about as a responsibility of product ops is hiring PMs. I feel like your product ops people understand what makes a good PM, especially in the specific context of your company, as well if not better than anyone. If the role of product ops is to make your product org a slick well oiled machine then adding the right people feels like it should fit squarely within that wheelhouse and is one of the highest leverage activities that can be done. I'm not suggesting that they should own the whole process end to end but it feels to me as though it's a place where they could add a lot of value.

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Wanted to just state this widely because my inbox has already be already had 15 requests to connect since the announcement of Shopify's APM program yesterday: 1. 🚫I do not provide referrals for folks I have not worked with/know personally🚫 In fact, I don't believe any PM at Shopify does as our referral system is complex and tailored for employees to only refer people they've worked with and can vouch for personally. 2. I am happy to talk about my experience breaking into the PM world, and working as a PM at Shopify. I am also happy to talk about the program because I really do think it is incredible 🚫 However I do not give advice on application or resumes 🚫 I always give the same response which I really mean: “Focus on why the APM program is the right next step in your career and how your past career has prepared you for it" 3. I am not involved in APM hiring in any way. I do not read resumes/apps or have any insight into the selection process. 4. I am open to 15-30 minute chats if you genuinely want to learn about my path or opinions. I am also always open to answering questions via messaging. However, I am not interested in setting up a chat that is just an attempt to get a better application/referral. That being said, I've really enjoyed some of most recent interaction on LinkedIn connecting with people with similar interests and/or experiences. If it's genuine- please do reach out and tell me about your interests :)

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Can a Product Manager own the P&L for a product if the teams building and supporting the product don’t report to the #ProductManager? You must set people up for success if you want them to succeed. Giving a product manager the responsibility of profit and loss over a product without authority over how it is built and maintained is the opposite of setting them up for success. I had a conversation with Ruby Raley about this yesterday. I shared a story about a company I know where the CTO was charged with building a new product. He outsourced it to an IT vendor. They got it built in about 9 months. It was sold to a handful of clients. The clients started using it. The bill arrived from the cloud hosting service and it was $1.2M for the month‼️ The company was going to lose over $1M a month just to run the product. 👆🏻This is what happens when goals and incentives are misaligned and constraints are not communicated. The CTO was not involved in pricing; nor had he considered the cost of the architectural decisions made by the outsource team. I rarely see the engineering organization report into the Head of Product. And even more rarely are product managers setting pricing for the products they manage, or determining the size and quality of their design and development teams. Honestly, I am on the fence about this topic. I see so many product managers struggling with the demands of doing all the things they need to do to manage their products. Many PMs only have 3-5 years of business experience. Do they have the time, skills, training, and aptitude for managing a P&L too? Does the reporting structure support it? Will the executive team support it? I would love to hear from product managers. Do you manage your product’s #ProfitAndLoss? Do you want to?

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I wanted to share something exciting that I've been working on over the past year at Ctruh, and I'm hoping to get some valuable insights and feedback from product managers like you. You know how creating captivating brand experiences can be a real challenge, especially when you're short on time, resources, and coding expertise? Well, my team and I have been dedicating countless hours to developing a product that aims to solve these pain points and revolutionize the way brands create immersive experiences. Imagine being able to create a stunning brand experience, similar to the one showcased in the video, in just 30 minutes, without needing to write a single line of code. That's the goal we've been working towards, and I'm thrilled to say that we're getting closer to making it a reality. Our product is designed to empower brand managers and marketers to bring their visions to life quickly and easily, with features like an intuitive interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and a wide range of professionally designed templates to choose from. As you build your brand experience, you'll be able to see it come to life in real-time, making it simple to make adjustments and tweaks until it's perfect. By using our product, brands will be able to save time, effort, and valuable resources that would otherwise be spent on coding and development. This means more opportunities to focus on engaging audiences and driving results. As we approach the launch of this game-changing product, I'm reaching out to the LinkedIn community, specifically product managers, to gather valuable feedback and insights. Your input will play a crucial role in shaping the final version of our product and ensuring that it meets the needs of brand managers across various industries. If you're interested in being a part of this exciting journey and helping to shape the future of brand experiences, I'd love to hear from you. Simply leave a comment below saying, "I am in," and I'll reach out to schedule a time for us to connect and discuss further. I'm genuinely excited about the potential impact of this product on the branding landscape, and I believe that with your help, we can redefine the way brands create captivating experiences and take customer engagement to new heights. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas! #branding #productfeedback #innovation #userexperience #ctruh

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What really changes on the journey from a "Product Manager" to a "Principal Product Manager?" Two things: ambiguity and scope. Let's dig in. At the product manager level, you're handed a problem and a rough solution. Your task? - Dive deep into the business and customer issues. - Polish the solution and test its viability. - Launch, measure, refine. Moving up to senior product manager, the problem is clear, but what is the solution? Not so much. Your role expands to: - Define the solution from scratch. - Drive alignment. - Execute as you did at the product manager level. At the principal level, things get murkier. The problem isn't well defined. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: - Identify the problem. - Drive alignment. - Repeat the Senior Product Manager process. - Have a point of view beyond your own scope. As you ascend the professional ladder, ambiguity becomes a fascinating and ever-present challenge, your constant companion. But here's the good news: If you can demonstrate to your manager and stakeholders your adeptness at handling any ambiguous problem of increasing scope, you can accelerate your journey to success and professional growth.

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Breaking up is hard to do.... 🎶 Unless you have a shitty roadmap, in which case, is it really? Plus points for getting the absolute worst/best cover image on YT. Our latest episode is live! #roadmaps #prodmgmt #productmanagement https://lnkd.in/e3zxkndv

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I'm loving this debate between John Cutler and Ed Biden - both are thinkers and leaders I deeply admire. Zero-interest PMs were hired by zero-interest Product Leaders, who were probably hired by zero-interest CEOs. It's turtling all the way up 🐢 Are they all incompetent? Nah, they are just a product of the environment. It would've been foolish to not take advantage of the zero-interest capital. The key question is whether these people - at all levels from the CEO to the PMs - are capable of adapting to the current environment where profit margin and sustainability are key. Everyone needs to 'sober up' after years of being drunk and high with cash. Zero-interest leaders focus on acquisition at all costs. Sober leaders focus on bringing solid value that leads to retention and sustainable growth. Zero-interest leaders double, triple, even quadruple the size of their team. Sober leaders realize that team size != productivity, that spending hours in alignment meetings for a small feature isn't any fun. Running lean is the way forward. Zero-interest leaders build or even acquire aggressively, trying to capture as much market as possible. Sober leaders are thoughtful in choosing just 1 or 2 things to do. Zero-interest leaders care about framework and rules "This is the only correct way to do product." Sober leaders care about results, knowing that those frameworks and rules are merely vehicles to achieve results. Ultimately, sober leaders are accountable for business performance, not just acting like consultants in suits talking big words and making pretty slides. It's not easy to sober up - but it's adapt or die.

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Product teams love customer feedback. But what do they actually do with it? Too often the answer is nothing. Your feedback goes into a black hole and disappears forever... That's not great, but I feel for product teams. Customer feedback is great, until you get a metric ton of it - to sort through, triage, and follow up on. Something has to give. Or does it - AI should help right! Right. I'm excited to share Pendo Listen. A new way to capture user feedback, organize insights, and test ideas so you can prioritize your resources with confidence. Check out link in comments.

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📣 Product Folks: 😡 Have you and your team hit the wall with trying to focus on value? That *could* look like: ▶ No steady stream of data to inform strategy, prioritization + roadmaps ▶ Stakeholder misalignment ▶ Competing priorities ▶ Duplicative or overlapping work streams 🤓 Are you ready to put Product Operations into practice at your company? Join me for Produx Labs' Product Operations June 5 Masterclass! Snag your seat today. https://lnkd.in/ephFvTwf #productmanagement #productops

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I had the opportunity to participate in UX Laurier's Designathon this past March! We learned about design thinking, UX research, Figma, design consulting, and more from industry professionals. I had a wonderful experience working with Belinda Chen, Jessie Feng, and Sarah Kim. When was the last instance you struck up a conversation with a stranger? According to our recent survey, a whopping 76% of respondents confessed to feeling bored or lonely while commuting on public transit. Imagine if there was a way to bridge this gap, to connect with those around you in a meaningful way, even if you've never crossed paths before. That's where Overlap comes in – facilitating those connections you never knew you needed, enriching your journey with newfound interactions and possibilities. There are many commuters that travels to school, and university & college. These commuters have trouble making new friends as they do not have time to participate in extra-curricular activities and other events due to their long commute to go back home. They always had the feeling to make new friends during their same daily commute or something that is similar. This is a mobile app that I was very interested to work with as its related to transportation, which is something that I am interested in. With the interest and transportation and being a regular daily commuter to university, I realized that many commuters like me have a feeling where it would be great to make new connections through our commute. With the support of my team, I have done lots of research about commuters, different competitors to our potential app, and translate these research to rest of my team, so they can proceed with the UX/UI Design of this mobile app. I have gained a more experience in project management by using agile methodology to assign each tasks to each group member, set deadlines for each requirement. We were keep recreating the product until we feel like its the best to submit. This was such an amazing experience where I was able to develop User Research, Project Management, Communication, Agile Methodology and I’m excited to continue learning more about UX Design. 🔗 Slide deck: https://bit.ly/3VJDDCl 🔗 Prototype: https://bit.ly/4alrNmw #uxdesign #designchallenge #ux

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🎙️Tonight is the night! Join Bosky and me for a deep dive into the importance of soft skills in product management. We’ll discuss how EQ can help you grow your career, enhance your products, and build better relationships. See you at 8:30 PM CET at this link 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/e3RiyHjE

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I've noticed some interesting trends happening in e-commerce the last few years while in the market doing a few different things. In no particular order: ⭐ Shopify hired AEs from Salesforce and is converting brands from Demandware to Shopify and is focused on enterprise clients. One former client of Flaunt's, Scotch & Soda, converted to Shopify in 2 weeks post-bankruptcy in 2023 🤯 ⭐ Digitally-native brands -- even those at the very earliest stages -- are looking to set up more than just their Shopify store, including running their own retail location (ahem Meghan Herman) and expanding into Amazon, etc. ⭐ Roblox is prioritizing becoming an e-commerce platform in its own right. They already have a large market for digital goods on-platform -- is there an opportunity for them to be a destination where gen Z & gen alpha buy contextually relevant off-platform goods? ⭐ Brands in certain categories that traditionally relied mostly on channel partners and retail that once treated "e-commerce" as a dirty word are now increasing their priority on growing their DTC channel. ⭐ Instagram removed the Shop tab from their homepage in an effort to re-prioritize on advertising revenue. Feels like there's some disruption, changings-of-the-guard, and new playbooks being written for growth in the 2024+ era. #ecommerce #shopify #salesforce #Roblox #amazon #loyalty

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Hiring a Product Manager? It's Like Having a General Contractor for Your Product! If you're building a new product or enhancing an existing one, having a skilled product manager on board can be invaluable - just like hiring a general contractor is essential for any major home construction project. As detailed in the article "Product Manager Job: What They Do and Why They're Important", product managers play a pivotal role in driving product success. They bridge the gap between the technical teams building the product and the business teams defining requirements based on customer needs. A product manager is responsible for: Defining the product vision and strategy Prioritizing features based on customer impact Managing the product roadmap and release process Gathering customer feedback to inform future iterations In essence, product managers are the "general contractors" orchestrating all the moving pieces required to deliver a successful product to market efficiently. You can build a product without one, just like you can take a DIY approach to home renovation. However, the level of effort and cross-functional coordination required is immense without an experienced PM at the helm. As the article states: "Don't build a house without a general contractor, and don't build a product without a product manager." If your company is serious about building great products that customers love, invest in a talented product manager. They'll help get it done right from vision to launch.

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🚀 Hiring a PM is hard enough, but growing a product culture may be harder still. There are a lot of new forces - from technology to competitors springing up. 🚀 How do we focus on what product does best - improving a team's decision-making with the right data? Hi, I'm Adam. I bring 15 years of product and coaching experience, guiding product teams through challenging conversations that spark better decision-making and a stronger, more data-inclusive culture. Are you looking to innovate? Are you looking to turn the data you have into decisions? Are you looking to create a culture that focuses on the customer? With my help, we can answer all those questions through workshops and coaching. 🔹 Why Work With Me? • Navigate Complex Challenges: I focus on getting clear insights in complex enviorments driven by conversation. • Enhanced Innovation: I help teams focus on efficient discovery - learn how to talk to customers and use what they give you to make new products. • Proven Strategies: I take my years of leveraging strategy for both individual products and portfolios to help get your strategy off the ground. What's in It for Your Team? • A clearer vision for your products • Improved team dynamics and communication • A competitive edge in rapidly changing markets 🌟 I’m looking for forward-thinking startups eager to revolutionize their approach to product management. Could that be you? 🌟 ➡️ Let’s make something amazing happen together! Please send me a direct message or comment below to start a conversation! How are you currently managing innovation within your team? Let's discuss below!

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Love seeing the process and growth that people experience inside Career Strategy Lab 🎉 Advancing your career is so much more than just external stuff like redoing a resume or portfolio, reaching out to people on LinkedIn etc. Sidenote, SO much growth comes from within and that's when we see things really shift for people – they start getting more interviews, moving further along in the interview process, and finally get offers for roles they actually want! PS: Have questions about Career Strategy Lab (the UX career coaching program I run that's *not* a boot camp) ... then check out the post below or send me a DM here on LinkedIn.)

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My biggest fear as a product manager are Friday afternoon code deployments. 😄 Kidding (but really, please don’t). My actual biggest fear is that I’m not driving the value my teams and customers need from me. 🔗 As product managers, our job is to drive value for our product’s teams and customers. We aren’t necessarily the people who deliver the tangible results that our peers and customers see – a lot of what we do is traditionally “behind the scenes” work. It makes sense, product management is often seen as the bridge between business and technology, customers and solutions, etc. 💡 That’s where a lot of my fear comes from. I’ve felt it the first day I served as a product manager, I still feel it over a decade later even with a list of achievements saying otherwise. But fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to work with coaches and mentors in the product space, each of which assure me that the feeling is normal. I recently had a conversation with a product manager from the MAANG space; several more years of experience than I and an even longer list of achievements. He, too, still holds a fear that he may not be driving value. But, he counters that fear with a few affirmations like these: “I am the reason my developers know what to build and why it matters.” “I am the reason my marketing and sales teams know who the product is for and how to engage them.” “I am the reason my product is solving a problem that people in my space want to solve in the first place.” 💭 Today, I still use affirmations to overcome my fears. They remind me that fear is “False Evidence Appearing Real.” What are you most afraid of as a product manager? How do you face your fear and overcome it? #productmanagement #productmanagers #impostersyndrome #fear #affirmations

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Are you a Product Manager navigating the job market right now? Let's talk Product Sense.  The PM market isn't the hottest it's ever been... One thing that's helped me stand out is having a solid grasp of Product Sense. At ZOE, I ran over 50 Product Sense interviews during a time of rapid growth, for hires ranging from Senior PM to Director. This experience gave me a clear advantage when I entered the job market myself recently. It's something a lot of companies use in their interviews to understand how you think about product strategy and problem-solving. It's a bit like a "gut feeling" test, but one that really matters. Want to boost your interview skills? I'm happy to offer some help with mock Product Sense interviews and feedback with anyone who's looking to progress within Product Management. It's free (with limited availability), so hit me up with a DM if you're interested. Or share this with your network - the more the merrier! #productmanagement #productmanager #career #jobs #hiring #linkedin #product 

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> you always have a strategy, even if it is implicit and not written down. Writing helps you sharpen it, have a shared understanding. > one of the simplest yet most powerful things you can do, is to write your strategy down.

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