Etsy's Product Manager, Jason Shen, talked about the 5 Characters of Product Management (and How to Hire for Them). Product managers are one of the toughest roles to define and hire for, in part because depending on the company and the project, they perform a wide variety of activities. It can be helpful to think of the role as five characters — the Explorer, the Analyst, the Planner, the Advocate, and the Field Trip Chaperone.

1. The 5 Characters of Product Management
with former Etsy Product Manager
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7. Jason Shen
Tonight’s Speaker

8. PM PERSONAS
THE FIVE
AND HOW TO HIRE FOR THEM
JASON SHEN
HEADLIGHT

9. ABOUT ME

10. WHAT DOES A PM
ACTUALLY DO?

12. WHAT DOES A PM ACTUALLY DO?

13. WHAT DOES A PM ACTUALLY DO?

14. WHAT DOES A PM ACTUALLY DO?
EXPLORER
ADVOCATEORGANIZER
TECHNICIAN

15. EXPLORING THE PERSONAS

16. EXPLORING THE PERSONAS
EXPLORER
• Focused outward on how the product fits into
the market and underlying trends
• Helps inspire team around a vision
+
• What major trend—cultural, economic, or
technological—are you excited about and how
will society be impacted by its development?
ABOUT EXPLORERS
HOW TO HIRE FOR THIS PERSONA

17. EXPLORING THE PERSONAS
ADVOCATE
+
• Strong listeners who understand their
customers, teammates, and executives
• Great communicators who will speak up and
fight for stakeholder needs
• Your product is slated to launch next week but a
small % of beta users start reporting serious
issues. How do you respond?
ABOUT ADVOCATES
HOW TO HIRE FOR THIS PERSONA

18. EXPLORING THE PERSONAS
ORGANIZER
+
• Able to keep track of people, projects, and
priorities of their own team and other teams
• Planners who keep things running smoothly
while making sure everyone feels supported
• Describe your ideal team process (planning,
standups, demos, etc) and how it might evolve
over the course of a project
ABOUT ORGANIZERS
HOW TO HIRE FOR THIS PERSONA

19. EXPLORING THE PERSONAS
TECHNICIAN
+
• Focused on the critical details of the product—
tech, design, metrics, bugs
• Helps the team solve thorny issues by doing the
research and wrestling with the problem
• Choose a website you use frequently—what
makes it great? If you were the PM, how would
you improve it? What metrics would you track?
ABOUT TECHNICIANS
HOW TO HIRE FOR THIS PERSONA

20. SITUATION
INTERNAL TOOLS NEW PRODUCT LINE
TECHNICIAN
ADVOCATE
ORGANIZER
EXPLORER
EXPLORER
TECHNICIANADVOCATE
ORGANIZER

21. WHAT ABOUT THE
FIFTH PERSONA?

22. CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN
HELPER
PARTNER
SHERPA

23. STAY IN TOUCH
HEADLIGHTLABS.COM
PMHACK.CO
jason@headlightlabs.com
@jasonshen

24. Part-time Product Management Courses in
San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles
and New York
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