Women in Product Conference 2018 Recap
The Women in Product Conference, which was held this year in Burlingame, CA was such a great learning opportunity for many Product professionals who attended. Along with our Sr. Product Line Manager, Ronke Majekodunmi, we were able to put together some key takeaways and actionable items that can help you in becoming a better Product leader.
Ask for help and give status updates back to mentors. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it and use your community to find a mentor. Make sure you’re surrounding yourself with mentors that can give you feedback and also provide you with opportunities to grow. Use mentors to get perspective and clarity on issues you’re facing.
Be a risk taker. Too often as women we shy away from the difficult projects, the hard jobs, or being out of our comfort zone. The lesson here is if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not learning. Breaking through is scary but if we become an active participant we can become the change we wish to see in our role, project, and product. Amanda Richardson, CEO from Rabbit also advocated us to say what we want, even if we’re not qualified and don’t meet all the necessary requirements. If we’re not stretching we’re not growing.
As product managers we are constantly faced with decision making and ensuring we are building the right product, the right way. How do we determine if we are successful or not? Tatyana Mamut advised us to work backwards from the customer request, ensuring we are only measuring what is important to the customer. Another tip was to forgo faceless personas and instead bring your real customers into the room. Make sure your whole team knows who they are designing and building for.
My favorite talk, that brought tears to my eyes for being so relatable was from Erin Teague, current PM at YouTube, formerly of Yahoo Fantasy Sports and Twitter. She inspired us to ignore our imposter syndrome and instead listen to our 18 year old selves that were fierce and fearless. Just by showing up to work and doing your best you are conquering your imposter syndrome and embracing the unknown. She also encouraged us to give back to the communities that helped us when we were first starting out by creating pathways for others to follow.
Overall I found the product conference to be electric and reassuring. We were motivated to become our most bold and authentic selves to help shape the products and teams of our dreams. By advocating for ourselves and leading with intention we ensure that our careers and products are uniquely us. By ensuring we lead knowing exactly what is most important to us we always know exactly what needs to be done and can use that information to help guide our teams.