Main Takeaways: -Making yourself relevant and crossing the domain chasm -First 60-120 days -Setting yourself up for long term growth

1. www.productschool.com
How to Change Your PM Domain
by Waymo Product Leader

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5. Changing your
Product
Management
Domain

6. What will we talk about today
Important things that improve your chances of
succeeding as a PM in your target domain
(companies)
How to focus your learning before and after you
start your new PM role

7. Who can use this?
Current PMs wanting to change their existing
domain.
Ex: From SaaS to Social Media, SW to HW products
Aspiring PMs with experience in a different domain
during their non-PM role
Ex: Designer for Web apps to PM of Mobile apps

8. What do I mean by domain?
AI
Software
Hardware
Mobile / SaaS
Blockchain
Medical
…...
Fintech
Social media
EVs
Ride hailing
eCommerce
Hospitality
…....
B2B / B2C
Global / Local
Governments
Non-profits
…...
Technology Business
Customers (UX)

9. Afroz Mohammad
Engineering Product Management
Data Engineering
Dev, Business intelligence, IT
Services..
Marketing and
Sales Intelligence
B2B, Predictive Analytics,
SaaS...
Robotic Process
Automation (RPA)
B2B, Document extraction, Global
expansions, SaaS / On-prem...
Autonomous
Vehicles (AV)
Consumers, Vehicle Perception
(and some behavior), Ride-hailing,
Hardware...

10. The ideas/process presented in the next few slides are
my thoughts only, through my own learnings and
experiences. They are not represented by my current or
any of my previous employers

11. Position yourself
Understand domains
that are important Every company or
product role needs
knowledge of various
domains, but there may
be a varying degree of
importance on each

12. Position yourself
Find your weak areas
If you do not have
industry knowledge of
what, why and how
things work in a domain,
then you may consider
yourself weak in that
area.

13. Position yourself
Familiarize yourself with
those weak areas
Read some literature
(books, research papers,
case studies, analyst
reports) or watch online
tutorials (moocs,
youtube).
You may also use other
skills/resources you
have

14. Position yourself
Focus on macro and
micro level aspects Build a top down and a
bottom up view about
the domain. Start from
broader picture and dig
deeper into operations

15. Position yourself
Assess transferability of
current
knowledge/skills and
gaps
This helps you articulate
during your interview. It
also helps in positioning
yourself with your
strengths/stories

16. Position yourself
Focus on your strong
domains and be honest
with not-so-strong
domains
Demonstrates
self-awareness, avoids
getting you into trouble
and builds trust with the
interviewers

17. Position yourself
Communicate with
confidence and comfort Comes with knowledge
building on the domain.
Natural interest and
passion towards the
domain also play a role.
Articulate your own
vision and ideas for the
product

18. Position yourself
Follow up with a note to
share anything else you
missed to communicate If nothing, a thank you
note summarizing your
top three skills goes a
long way

20. Learn and launch yourself
Find people dedicating
time to ramp you up Find people committing
to a time and make use
effectively. Find your
personal board of
advisors. May not
necessarily be from your
direct team

21. Learn and launch yourself
Ask basic questions
about the domain to
align thinking Ask questions by
understanding their
strengths. Do not
assume the answers and
listen to them carefully

22. Learn and launch yourself
Learn their language
Understand the industry
terms used commonly.
Helps you understand
internal materials,
presentations or general
conversations within the
company

23. Learn and launch yourself
Take time to understand
domain metrics This is important. Deeply
understanding the
metrics definitions, how
they are measured, what
is their significance is a
must have before setting
targets for your teams

24. Learn and launch yourself
Assess how the Org is
structured based on the
domain This helps in
understanding the
people and their
operations. It is
important in a complex
product portfolio. Also
identify the informal
networks within the Org

25. Learn and launch yourself
Understand how much
importance is placed on
competition Varies between industry,
companies and market.
Some companies focus
on learning while some
focus on potential
threats

26. Learn and launch yourself
Keep your opinions from
past employments to
yourself Understand the history
of decisions made. Most
decisions were made
with good reasons.
When voicing your
thoughts, be objective
and less opinionated

27. Learn and launch yourself
Ask what is important to
the team Apply your domain
knowledge. Find ways to
provide value to the
team. Small wins to build
credibility

28. Learn and launch yourself
Deliver something and
gather feedback Sometimes, people
don’t know how you can
help. Showing
something lets them
give you a yay/nay
instantly

29. Credits

30. One last thing! Build your
strategy based on your
strengths
Thank you!

31. Land yourself
Promote your small wins
Document and present
your small wins..
Generally 6-9 months is
a good time horizon.

32. Land yourself
Understand your areas of
growth Find how you provided
value to your teams.
Plan with your manager.
“Becoming a SME”
should be an important
OKR

33. Land yourself
Build a working model
for yourself in the new
domain Collaboration. You
cannot do everything.
Find your methods for
longer term success
using the formal and
informal networks of the
company

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