Podcast Summary
Accept Feedback Openly and Learn from it: Wisdom from a YouTube Product Leader: Feedback, even if it hurts, is valuable. Thank the person who gave it and acknowledge it externally. Accepting feedback helps you improve at what you do. Find a mentor and build skills that matter for advancing a PM career.
Jules Walter, a product leader at YouTube and co-founder of nonprofits, stresses on the importance of accepting feedback openly and learning from it.Even when feedback hurts, it's essential to thank the person who gave it and externally acknowledge that it's valuable.When you accept feedback, you become better at what you do.In his conversation with Lenny on building and growing products, Jules also talks about building skills that matter most in advancing a PM's career, the significance of mentorship, and how to find a mentor.He collaborates with Lenny on various projects, including building product sense.The episode is brought to you by Vanta and Notion.
Jules Walter on Product Management and Scaling Growth: Start at a startup to gain domain expertise, have a learning mindset, and find mentors to succeed in product management. Exciting to take a product from nothing to something at Google.
Jules Walter is a product lead at YouTube who recently launched a product called Primetime Channels that brings streaming services to YouTube.Prior to joining YouTube, Jules was the first growth PM at Slack and helped scale their growth team.He emphasizes that it's hard to get into product management, but joining a startup and gaining domain expertise is a common path.Jules also stresses the importance of having a learning mindset and leaning on mentors in order to succeed.Finally, Jules feels that taking a product from nothing to something is really exciting, especially when working for a company like Google.
Mentorship and Community: Key Ingredients for a Successful Product Manager: Success in product management depends on building a strong community and finding mentors who can help you apply growth frameworks and make significant impact within your company. Initiative and a desire to improve diversity in tech can lead to big things.
Jules Walter, a product manager at YouTube, talked about how mentorship has helped him apply growth frameworks to his work and make significant impact within the company.He also co-founded two nonprofits, CodePath and Black PMs, to improve diversity in tech by providing training, support, and community to underrepresented individuals in software engineering and product management.These organizations started from his own need for support earlier in his career and grew into big initiatives with solid teams.Walter emphasizes the importance of mentorship and community in becoming a stronger product manager and making a positive impact in the industry.
Developing Hard and Soft Skills for Advancement in Your Project Management Career: To advance as a project manager, you need to develop both hard and soft skills such as execution, strategy, product sense, and emotional intelligence (EQ). Focus on improving individual skills and practice mock interviews to increase your chances of success.
In order to advance in your career as a project manager, it is important to develop both hard and soft skills.Hard skills include execution, product sense, strategy and interview skills, while soft skills include emotional intelligence (EQ).Starting skill by skill, you can focus on improving each individual skill rather than becoming overwhelmed by the many different skills within each category.To improve interview skills specifically, it is recommended to do dozens of mock interviews and practice deliberately with someone who is good at interviewing.It is important to remember that interviewing can be difficult and traumatic for many people, but with deliberate practice, it is possible to improve and increase your chances of success.
The Importance of Feedback in Interviewing Practice for Underrepresented Individuals: Feedback is crucial for practicing interviews, but underrepresented individuals may struggle to find it. Finding a community to practice with and using mock interview questions can help overcome this barrier. Practice to the point of being able to pass even in stressful situations.
Practicing for interviews is crucial, but feedback is often hard to come by.This lack of feedback is an important barrier for underrepresented individuals in particular.To overcome this, Walter suggests finding a community and practicing with a small group of people who are going through the same process.Additionally, even if you are not applying to a big company, practicing with the mock interview questions available from big companies can still be helpful.Finally, it is important to understand that underrepresented individuals may face extra psychological stress during interviews and to practice to the point where even your worst interview is still good enough to pass.
The Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers: While having a strong IQ is helpful for a project manager, developing emotional intelligence (EQ) is equally important. Improving communication skills, self-awareness, and seeking guidance from mentors can lead to better leadership and management skills.
As a project manager, having a strong IQ can be helpful for executing tasks and driving results, but focusing on improving your emotional intelligence (EQ) is equally important for managing larger scope projects and dealing with ambiguity and stress.Developing communication skills and self-awareness are key components of EQ, but it's important to identify the unique areas that you need to work on.It may be difficult to learn and improve EQ skills, but seeking guidance from mentors or coaches can help identify blind spots and patterns that can be addressed to become a better leader and manager.
Identifying Blind Spots and Patterns for Improved Emotional Intelligence Skills: Self-awareness and pattern recognition are key in improving emotional intelligence skills, including communication, leadership, and management. Identifying blockers and working on them can help in advancing one's career. Tools like Linear can simplify issue tracking for software teams.
Self-awareness and identifying patterns are crucial in improving emotional intelligence skills like communication, leadership, and management.Jules Walter, a former Slack executive, shares his experience of how a mentor helped him recognize his blind spots and patterns that were holding him back.Specifically, he talks about how negative self-talk affected his ability to answer questions confidently and how he overcame it with practice.It's important to identify these blockers and work on them to improve emotional intelligence skills that are crucial in advancing one's career.Additionally, tools like Linear can make issue tracking simpler and more efficient for modern software teams.
Linear: Efficient Project Management Tool for Startups and Established Companies: When learning a new skill using Linear, identify your end goal and work backward. Connect with experts and network with peers for valuable insights. Creating challenging goals can push you to learn and improve.
Linear is a popular tool among startups and established companies for efficient project management.When learning a new skill, start by identifying a concrete outcome you want to achieve and work backwards to figure out how to achieve it.Ask questions and find experts in the field to learn from.Networking with mentors and peers can also be helpful throughout the process.Creating a goal that puts your ass on the line can force you to learn and improve your skills.
The Importance of Finding Mentors and Best Practices: Don't be afraid to ask for help and learn from others' experiences. Finding mentors and identifying best practices can help you improve your skills and knowledge in areas such as growth, strategy, execution, and product sense. Remember to take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow.
You don't have to figure things out on your own. There are people out there who are happy to help you learn and succeed.Finding mentors and learning from their experiences and expertise can be a valuable approach to improving your skills and knowledge in different areas such as growth, strategy, execution, and product sense.Additionally, identifying best practices and reverse engineering artifacts and templates can also help you improve in these areas.Remember, people are generally happy to help and it's important to take advantage of these opportunities to learn and grow.
Learning from Others: A Powerful Tool for Skill Improvement: Observing and learning from successful companies like Google and Slack, seeking feedback from mentors, and identifying patterns to uncover strengths and weaknesses, helps enhance communication, leadership, and management skills. Be clear in communication and willing to improve weaknesses.
Observation and learning from others is a powerful way to improve your skills.Working at a large company like Google or Slack provides access to real-life strategy documents and artifacts that can be studied to understand how successful strategies are built.Mentors and coaches can also be valuable resources for enhancing communication, leadership, and management skills.Seeking feedback from others and identifying patterns can help uncover strengths and weaknesses.It is important to be clear in communication and to be willing to work on weaknesses.
Developing Emotional Intelligence Takes Time and Consistent Practice: Improving emotional intelligence requires regular exercise and repetition, like building muscles. Focus on one skill for 3-6 months and consistently practice towards a clear outcome. Improvement may not be perfect, but investing time can take it to the next level.
Learning emotional intelligence (EQ) is a longer and more frustrating process compared to improving intellectual intelligence (IQ).While progress in IQ can be seen within a few months of consistent practice, EQ development requires regular exercise and repetition like lifting weights or building muscles.It is recommended to learn these skills one at a time, and focus on one skill for three to six months, consistently practicing every day or week towards a clear outcome.It is important to acknowledge that at the end of this period, you may not have perfected the skill, but it will have improved, and one can invest more time to take it to the next level.
Harnessing the Power of Constructive Feedback: Creating a safe environment for feedback and responding with gratitude and enthusiasm can provide valuable insight into how others perceive you. Building trust and showing empathy are crucial factors in fostering effective EQ feedback.
It's important to make people feel comfortable giving you feedback, especially if it's constructive feedback that requires some level of risk-taking.To do this, you can use specific techniques such as asking pointed questions or giving yourself critical feedback in front of others to encourage agreement or disagreement.When someone gives you feedback, it's crucial to respond enthusiastically and gratefully.Engaging in EQ feedback can be more challenging, but it is equally important because it uncovers important information about how you are perceived by others.Building trust and showing that you care about people are critical factors in getting this kind of feedback from others.
Building Trust and Embracing Strengths for Effective Feedback: To receive constructive feedback, build trust by being open to criticism and asking about your strengths. Focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, and understand how they can help or harm depending on the situation. Utilize your strengths to achieve personal and professional growth.
To create an environment where people feel safe giving feedback, it is important to set a foundation of trust by being vulnerable and open to criticism.Instead of trying to fix weaknesses, it is more effective to focus on strengths by asking what others see as your strengths, even if you don't think they are a big deal.It is also important to understand the connection between your strengths and weaknesses, as they are on the same spectrum and can be helpful or harmful depending on the context.By identifying and utilizing your strengths, you can increase your effectiveness and achieve breakthroughs in your personal and professional growth.
The Power of Listening in Mentoring Relationships: Listen more, speak less to understand the situation and create a mental model. Find mentors who can explain what you want to improve on. Make a small ask when reaching out for mentorship.
Jules Walter shares that he listens more and speaks less in meetings because he tries to create a mental model of the situation.This strength can be perceived as a weakness in some contexts, but once he understands it, he feels empowered.Finding the right mentor is key, and Jules looks for people who are good at explaining specific things that he wants to improve on.He finds mentors everywhere, from events to introductions via email.When reaching out to potential mentors, it's better to make a small ask instead of a big one.The key is to find the right person and then figure out how to have that initial conversation.
Tips for Finding and Building Relationships with Mentors: Attend events and meet people to find mentors. Start small with simple questions and follow up after implementing advice. Don't waste their time, ask specific questions, and circle back after a few months. You can have multiple mentors, each with specific skills or areas of focus.
To find a mentor, attend events and meet as many people as possible.Rather than asking someone to be a mentor, start small by asking simple questions and showing that you'll make good use of their advice.Once you have a foot in the door, follow up with them, and show that you have implemented their advice.Ask specific questions in meetings, and don't waste their time.Building a relationship takes time, so circle back after a few months to reach out to them again.Remember, you can have multiple mentors, and you don't need to find the perfect one for everything.Look for people who are good at specific skills or areas you want to focus on.
Strategies to Build Successful Mentor Relationships for PMs: To build successful mentor relationships as a PM, be clear and specific in your requests, take notes and follow up, and find ways to offer help in return. Embrace failure as part of the learning process.
Building meaningful relationships with mentors involves being specific in your requests for feedback, taking notes and following up on previous conversations, and identifying ways to offer help to your mentors.It takes patience and practice to learn the skills required of a PM, and failure is a necessary part of the learning process.
Formatted Jules Walter's Recommendations for Books, Podcasts, Movies, and TV Shows: Jules Walter suggests reading Never Split the Difference for negotiation skills and Connect for improving your EQ skills and relationships. He recommends Lex Fridman's podcast for intriguing speakers and diverse topics. Watch Top Gun: Maverick and Never Have I Ever for great entertainment.
Jules Walter recommends two books - Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss for negotiations and Connect by Carole Robin for improving EQ skills and relationships with people.He also recommends the Lex Fridman podcast for interesting speakers and diverse topics.His favorite recent movie is Top Gun: Maverick and TV show is Never Have I Ever, a coming of age story about an Indian teenager.When interviewing people, he likes to ask what work-related skill they are trying to improve and focuses on follow-up questions for more insight.He can be found on Twitter and invites people to share what they find useful.
