Main Takeaways: - Why it's important to empathizing and understanding your own teammates / partners, and not just your end users - Unlocking the long-term value of bringing people up the mountain with you on your product-building journey - How developing your emotional IQ will take you from being a good PM to being a great PM

1. www.productschool.com
The Importance of Soft Skills as a PM
by Google PM

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5. The Importance of
Soft Skills as a PM
Manosai Eerabathini

6. Agenda
1. Quick About Me
2. Why Soft Skills Matter
3. Common Failure Modes
4. How You Can Avoid Them
6

7. About Me
Currently a PM at Google
Formerly PM at Vevo & Microsoft
Engineering at UPenn
7

8. Why Soft Skills Matter
1
(A lot
more than
you think)

9. 9
Figuring out the right thing to
do is rarely the hardest part, it’s
figuring out how to bring
everyone along for the journey

10. What Do PMs Do?
10

11. What Do PMs Do?
11

12. What Do PMs Do?
12

13. What Do PMs Really Do?
13
Working with
people is common
across everything
we do.
We don’t get
anything done by
ourselves.

14. Common Failure Modes
What bad habits do we often see many PMs fall into
2

15. Falling in Love
with Pure
“Building”
Allocating most of your time and energy to what “feels” like product
management because it’s directly tangible. That instant feedback is
great!
15

16. Failing to build
consensus and
bring people along
for the journey
Without investing in a shared vision of where you want to go, how can
you empower other people to help you get there?
16

17. Playing the Hero
Spending too much time “doing” -- writing code, writing documents,
having meetings, putting themselves on the critical path when it’s not
actually needed.
17

18. How To Avoid These
Failure Modes
Let’s equip you with the tips and tricks to build good soft skills.
3

19. Things You Can Do
Identify
Figure out who your key
partners, stakeholders,
players are. Start with
understanding this
landscape of individuals
and how they relate to
your product and role.
Invest
For those that you have
determined on the critical
path to success, invest in
building and giving
foundation to a
relationship. Earn their
trust.
Nurture
Keep at it. This takes time
and just like other
dynamics in our lives, gets
stronger the more we tend
to them. Keep
strengthening your
relationships.
19

20. Other Things
20
● Bring a sense of purpose and mission to your
everyday work
● Demonstrate self-awareness to the extent you can
● Show a sense of conviction that empowers you to
persist and overcome challenges
● Be self-motivated!

21. “ At some point, building & launching
products comes down to dates and people.
21

22. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management Training Courses
and
Corporate Training