Presentation to accompany a #smwnyc masterclass: http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/events/?id=67697

1. So, you want to be a
(non-technical) PM?
Stacy-Marie Ishmael

2. Lesson One
What do product
managers do?

3. Three core responsibilities:
• Lead (product strategy)
• Prioritize
• Execute

4. Lead the product strategy. You
are not the CEO, but you are
the CEO of the product.
(Unless you have a technical
CEO...)

5. Prioritize (ruthlessly). A good
product manager knows when -
and to whom - to say yes. And
that you more often, you will be
saying no.

6. Execute. If you’re not adding
value, you’re not doing your
job. And if your team is not
shipping, there is no product.
And no reason for you.

7. “ the end, product managers
In
ship, and that means that
product managers cover
whatever gaps in the process
that need to be covered.
“
@adamnash

8. Three more responsibilities:
• Communicate
• Represent the end user(s)
• Be a buffer for the product team

9. Communicate. You need to be
able to articulate (and
translate) the product vision
and strategy to both technical
and non-technical audiences.

10. Represent the end user(s). You
are the representative of
everyone not in the room -
clients, sales, marketing and
PR, engineering, founders...

11. Be a buffer for the product
team. Protect your engineers
and your designers from
distraction(s). Their time is
worth more than yours.

12. “
There’s no way to be a
successful product manager
without a successful team
“
@hunterwalk

13. Lesson Two
So, do I need to learn to
code?

14. 60%
Percentage of product managers in a recent survey who
didn’t have a science or engineering background
Not knowing how to code is not a dealbreaker.
Source: http://bit.ly/VBTPDn

15. DON’T NEED TO LEARN A PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGE
STILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK DEV

16. Lesson TwoPointFive
You mean I need to learn
to code?!?

17. Non-technical doesn’t mean
non-techie. You will need a
healthy lack of ego as you
come to grips with a new
lexicon and way of thinking.

18. You really are learning a new
language. Git. QA. Master.
Stack. Front end. Backend. API.
Python. Django. UX. UI.
Javascript. Refactor. Unit test.

19. Lesson Three
Don’t despair.

20. Product management is hard.
And being a non-technical PM
means you will face a steeper
learning curve than your
technical peers.

21. Seriously, product
management is hard. But you
don’t need HTML to solve
problems, evangelize for your
users, or lead a product team.

22. “
Repeat after me: you do not
need to be a developer to be a
good product manager.
“
@s_m_i

23. Product Manager
Stacy Ishmael
@s_m_i
linkedin.com/in/smishmael
bitl.y/smwnycpm