Growing Your Product Management Career

Welcome and Introductions

Kate Fuchs | 00:00–03:10
Welcome everyone. This is our webinar on growing your product management career in an uncertain economy. We’re thrilled that you’re here with us from all over the world.

While the economy might be a little crazy, your product management career does not have to be. The field of product management remains exciting and dynamic, and if we in product management know anything, it’s that continuous improvement is always a must.

Today we’ll talk about current demand for product managers, how product managers can help companies in times of economic uncertainty, how to set yourself apart, and career tips and insights. We’ll also leave time for Q&A so you can ask questions and get answers from our expert speakers.

Our speakers bring years of experience in product management and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing professionals in this space. They’ll share insights and advice on how to navigate the current landscape and position yourself for success in the years ahead.

With that, I’ll let them introduce themselves. Joe, I’ll pass it to you first.

Joe Ghali | 03:10–04:20
Awesome, thanks Kate. My name is Joe Ghali. I hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thankfully the nine inches of snow we got on Saturday has finally melted, so we’re waiting on spring to get here.

I’m excited to be here. I’ve been in the product management space for 20 years, working in a variety of industries, and I’m excited to partner with Elad and Kate to talk about a great topic: how we can help you upskill your product management skill set in an uncertain economy.

Elad, I’ll hand it over to you.

Elad Simon | 04:20–05:55
Thanks Joe. I’m Elad Simon. I’m here in Tel Aviv, in Israel, so it’s the evening time. I cannot say that we’re shoveling snow, or anything is melting. It’s a little bit cooler than yesterday, but it’s about 21 degrees Celsius, so it’s pretty mild. We’re deep in spring.

I’ve been around the world of product management for about the best part of 15 years. As part of leading Craft.io, I meet a lot of product practitioners from different companies, different company sizes, and different stages in their career. So I have my personal perspective, and also a perspective from working with a lot of organizations out there.

Hopefully we can make this an interesting webinar for everyone here. And thanks of course Kate and Joe for inviting me.

Kate Fuchs | 05:55–07:05
Wonderful. And as it says there, my name is Kate Fuchs. I’ll be your moderator today. I’m also at Productside as a product manager, and I live in Greenville, South Carolina, where spring has certainly sprung—so we are dealing with all of the pollen. Those of you in this area probably are well aware of that.

Joe Ghali | 07:05–07:20
Was that an allergy comment?

Kate Fuchs | 07:20–07:55
Oh yes. “Southern snow” is what we call it.

Elad Simon | 07:55–08:05
I’ve never heard of that expression—Southern snow.

Who We Are: Productside and Craft.io

Kate Fuchs | 08:05–10:00
Let’s do a quick overview of Productside and Craft.io so you’re aligned on where your experts are coming from.

Productside is your ultimate outcome-driven product partner. With a team of expert consultants and trainers, we offer customized solutions as well as public solutions tailored to your needs. Our consultants, such as Joe, bring decades of real-world experience from top companies. We’d love to partner with you on tools, knowledge, or expert guidance to achieve your goals. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn—we’ll include links in the chat at the end of the webinar.

Craft.io is a platform where we empower product teams to build exceptional products with confidence. It’s a comprehensive suite of tools and features to manage your product lifecycle from ideation to launch and beyond. The platform is designed to streamline your workflow, improve collaboration and communication, and provide real-time insights into your product development process. Be sure to follow Craft.io on LinkedIn as well.

We will be recording today’s webinar. And please use the Q&A and chat to send questions—we have a team in the background collecting questions and answering in the chat where we can.

Poll 1: Areas You Want to Improve

Kate Fuchs | 10:00–14:05
As voice-of-the-customer experts—like all product managers should be—we want to know what you want to know.

Our first poll: What product management areas do you want to improve upon? You can choose three. There are ten choices, so make sure you scroll down in the poll.

Kate Fuchs | 14:05–16:20
All right, let’s end the poll and share the results.

It looks like product success metrics is at the top. Roadmaps and leadership are also high. I can’t say I’m surprised—roadmaps and success metrics are big, especially right now.

Joe Ghali | 16:20–17:35
I’m not surprised at all. Especially in this day and age, companies are asking: am I getting a return on investment? A lot of leaders ask us, how do we know we’re doing a good job, how do we know we’re making progress, and how do we talk about outcomes? And roadmaps—how do we build strategic roadmaps?

Elad Simon | 17:35–19:25
If I bundle the top three—product success metrics, roadmaps, and leadership—I’d say they’re connected. A lot of product teams want to be more strategic and more outcome-driven rather than output-driven. They want to build and tell a more compelling, comprehensive story that connects the work being done and features delivered with the strategy and what the company cares about.

I was a little surprised—but not really—to see how low agile is. It warms my heart, because sometimes product managers get obsessed about methodology and ceremonies instead of value.

Kate Fuchs | 19:25–20:05
Someone in the chat said, “We already know about agile.”

Elad Simon | 20:05–20:20
We drank all the Kool-Aid—agile.

Progression Through Product Management Ranks

Kate Fuchs | 20:20–20:40
Let’s get into it: progressing through product management ranks, and different types of roles. Joe, do you want to take the first swing?

Joe Ghali | 20:40–25:15
This comes up a lot. The short answer is experience—how many scenarios have you been in? Have you managed digital products, physical products, IoT? Have you been a product manager when the economy is doing magnificently, or when it’s challenging?

But when I hire product managers, I also look at attitude. Do they display empathy? Are they inquisitive? Are they always asking questions? Do they have natural curiosity?

Even if you’re not formally in the product role, you can still be curious within your organization. You can empathize with a shared service or a different department and try to understand their point of view, partner with them, and identify opportunities and value.

And there’s the certification and training piece too—we’ll talk about that more—but that’s what comes to mind when people ask me how to grow.

Elad Simon | 25:15–31:10
I resonate with curiosity. Product management is a 360-degree role—sales, customer success, strategy, leadership, execution. Keeping a curious mind is critical.

Another big thing: finding a good manager. It’s not always easy, but if you can choose, find someone who can help you grow and who cares about building a strong product organization.

Here’s advice that can sound counterintuitive: if you’re just starting, don’t start in a very small organization. When you join a company with one or two product managers, it can be hard to know what “good” looks like. If you can start somewhere with a team of product managers that’s humming—maybe a company of 200–300 people—you can learn a lot. Later you can go smaller or bigger, but early on, seeing how good looks is valuable.

And in small startups, it can be hard to find the capacity to teach—usually not because people don’t want to, but because they’re stretched thin.

Joe Ghali | 31:10–33:45
If that opportunity doesn’t present itself—if your options are limited—this is where higher-level degrees and certifications can help. People underestimate the value of teamwork, networking, and meeting other practitioners. It’s not only the certification—it’s the connections, the projects together, and staying connected afterward.

Elad Simon | 33:45–36:05
Also: product communities. There are many product management communities out there—online and in-person meetups. Product management is still a young profession, and playbooks are still being written. Community accelerates learning.

Another dimension: as you progress, you’re expected to move from tactical to strategic. The most successful product people flex smoothly between strategy and execution. Try not to focus only on execution—keep the strategy layer in mind from early on.

Different Types of Product Management Roles

Kate Fuchs | 36:05–36:55
Let’s explore different types of product management roles. We have a few high-level categories here, though there are many more titles in the wild.

Joe, do you want to start with business product manager and growth product manager?

Joe Ghali | 36:55–41:20
Business product manager is your traditional modern product manager: you represent the voice of the customer, often for a segment, whether digital, physical, or IoT.

You connect the who and the why, and bring that to your dev team. You brainstorm together on the what, and empower the team to help define the how. This includes artifacts like personas and customer journey maps, often in partnership with UX.

Growth product manager is newer. It’s more focused on a specific outcome—revenue generation, customer satisfaction, retention, or churn. They often work across product teams and initiatives around a common outcome.

Elad Simon | 41:20–46:20
Not all organizations use all these titles. Many just have “product manager.” Growth is probably the newest of these.

Product owner is supposed to be the master of the solution, working closely with the PM and the development team. In practice, it varies a lot, but in its intent, it’s a role focused on turning the strategy and problems into the right solution and bringing it to life. You tend to see product owners more in mature organizations, often because complexity grows and the role gets split.

Technical product manager is also not always well-defined. The common scenario is PMs working on APIs, developer platforms, or deep technical products—where the complexity demands more technical proximity.

Joe Ghali | 46:20–48:10
I’ve seen the technical product manager role show up in global organizations too. Regions may have their own roadmaps, and a TPM looks across the landscape to define architectural runway, prerequisites, and sequencing when there are multiple “number ones.”

Also: role clarity is critical. Many problems in product organizations stem from unclear lines between PM, PO, BA, UX, and development. If the PM is forced into day-to-day PO work, the backlog and long-term planning suffer because they aren’t talking to customers and building strategic direction.

Elad Simon | 48:10–50:10
And a note on “modern product manager”: the role evolved a lot with agile. Waterfall is unambiguous—you write the plan. Agile introduces continuous prioritization and communication, and that drove the need for PMs to connect strategy, outcomes, roadmaps, and stakeholder alignment.

Poll 2: What Role Do You Aspire To?

Kate Fuchs | 50:10–53:10
Let’s do our next poll: which product manager type do you aspire to? Choose the one that fits best.

Kate Fuchs | 53:10–54:35
All right, let’s close and share the results.

We’re seeing business product manager and product leadership roles at the top—team manager/director level, and VP and above.

Elad Simon | 54:35–57:10
A quick thought: many people assume people management is the next step. Be honest with yourself—are you passionate about mentoring and managing people? As you grow, you become less connected to execution and more connected to coaching and strategy.

There are also senior IC paths—principal product managers and similar—where you can take big responsibilities without being a people manager. Choose the path that matches what you enjoy and what you can be great at.

How to Improve Storytelling and Influence

Kate Fuchs | 57:10–57:35
We have a strong question: what tangible actions can you take to improve storytelling and influence?

Joe Ghali | 57:35–01:00:40
Start with the voice of the customer. Build artifacts like personas and customer journey maps. Use empathy interviews, capture pain points, and bring stakeholders along on the journey.

Those tangible artifacts—personas, journey maps, evidence—help explain why you’re making the decisions you’re making. That’s how you get alignment.

Elad Simon | 01:00:40–01:02:25
Tailor the narrative to the audience. Sometimes an anecdote is more effective than all the data in the world. Know who you’re talking to, and adjust the story so they can understand and empathize with the decision.

Keeping Skills Sharp in an Uncertain Economy

Kate Fuchs | 01:02:25–01:03:05
In a succinct way: what tangible things can someone do to keep skills sharp and level up? Joe first, then Elad.

Joe Ghali | 01:03:05–01:05:25
Never stop learning. Training, certifications, and structured programs help—but also look for environments where you meet other people.

Join product meetups. Network. Build relationships. Follow people you trust on LinkedIn—there’s great content out there.

Elad Simon | 01:05:25–01:08:20
Two things.

First: always think one level above your pay grade—sometimes two. In downturns, just keeping your head down isn’t enough. People who stand out are the ones who help the organization succeed beyond their immediate scope.

Second: always look for fit. Find where you can truly excel. In downturns, people cling to seats, but if you find the place where you’re the best fit and can perform exceptionally, that’s a strong asset.

Poll 3: Your Upskilling Plans

Kate Fuchs | 01:08:20–01:11:00
Final poll: what are your plans to upskill in your product management career?

Kate Fuchs | 01:11:00–01:12:05
All right, let’s end it and share. We’re seeing a strong spread across options—love it.

Resources, Discounts, and Upcoming Training

Kate Fuchs | 01:12:05–01:14:35
Please follow Productside and Craft.io on LinkedIn for links, articles, webinars, and more.

We also have special offers: 20% off from both Craft.io and Productside.

And we have upcoming courses—please check Productside’s course page for details.

Joe Ghali | 01:14:35–01:15:25
Dean Peters will be doing Agile Product Management training in April, and in August we’ll be in Wisconsin. Use the discount and come join us.

Closing Thoughts

Kate Fuchs | 01:15:25–01:16:05
Any final thoughts before we close?

Joe Ghali | 01:16:05–01:16:45
Be humble. Be inquisitive. Be patient. Be vulnerable. It’s not an easy time for a lot of product leaders and product managers. For those without a job: stay patient and keep going.

Elad Simon | 01:16:45–01:17:25
Be hopeful. We are in a tight spot, but these times end. You’ll find your path back.

Kate Fuchs | 01:17:25–01:18:10
Thank you all for being here and for the great questions. Learning and growth are ongoing, so continue to seek new opportunities, and stay connected with us on social. We look forward to supporting you on your product management journey.

Thank you.