"Ask Me Anything" with YouTube's Product Manager

/Productschool @ProductSchool /ProductmanagementSF

About me

Born and raised in the Bay Area

Currently a PM at YouTube

Fun facts!

● I have a golden retriever● I have a twin sister

3 things I wish I knew about being a PM

#1The path to PM can be windy

(...and that's ok!)

The start

Studied EE at Berkeley, Stanford

Thought I was going to be a HW engineer forever

Cracks in the foundation formed

● Loved my psych classes● Dabbled in marketing ● Worked on and off as a SW

engineer

Intel: early lessons

Stints in engineering and marketing

Ended up an analyst for the CEO’s chief of staff

Got a crash course in business and strategy

Loved the birds eye view, but missed being on the ground floor

My first PM gig

Joined a new subsidiary of Intel called Intel Media

Goal was to disrupt the cable TV business

Got a crash course in being a PM

● Authority is earned, not granted

● Make order out of chaos● Identify and fill in the gaps

Continuing the journey

Now at YouTube working on growth

Realized my hodgepodge background can be an asset

● SW and circuit design skills ● Psychology ● Marketing● Data analysis

#2Be an octopus

A day in the life

Despite the variety, your role for most meetings is to:

● Have clear goals and outcomes in mind for each meeting

● Be prepared with information and data

● Drive each meeting to reach desired goals

● Identify and follow up with action items

#3It’s easy to be a bad PM, hard to be a good one

Good PM/Bad PM

A ‘good’ pm will be a function of the team, company, environment, product

Being a PM is both art and science

All of us can be bad PMs sometimes

My take

A good PM...

Does what it takes to deliver

Is self aware, asks for feedback, and learns fast

Is the voice of the customer

Serves the team

A bad PM...

Thinks they are the boss

Goes where the wind blows

Has a weak grasp of who their customer is, or should be

Doesn’t have a plan for what their team could be working on next month

Thanks for listening!

www.productschool.com