I was tempted to call this episode, "Queen Margaret" because to be in the company of Margaret "MJ" Jastrebski feels a little like being with PM royalty.
But I also know she's way too humble to accept such a title and she'd probably just ask me to change it. So in the spirit of "reducing waste," we titled this penultimate episode in our Chicago series, "Learning on the Job."
Truthfully it's an equally fitting title when you consider that Jastrebski's 20+ year career in Product Management started with her teaching herself to code at night while working days as a QA person - all part of her bigger plan to escape Atlanta and join the tech movement of the early 2000s.
Since then she's had to learn to manage API products and to manage people, serving in a number of executive roles at Orbitz, Signal, and now as SVP of Enterprise Products at ShopRunner.
To say Margaret is respected in the industry and in the local PM community in Chicago is an understatement. To say it's hard to understand why is impossible if you ever get the chance to meet her in person. To say you don't want to miss our conversation in this podcast is good advice.
Also in this episode:
- First-wave Startup-ism
- Taking on Amazon
- How to know when you're doing it right
What are you waiting for?! Press play already.
In this episode:
- Where do startups go wrong with implementing OKRs
- Can OKRs really scale for enterprise?
- What are pipelines and how do they change the way we think about product roadmaps?
In this episode:
- From retail to product management
- Why relationship building is the number one required skill a product manager could have
- The value of having confidence with humility
In this episode:
- Establishing a clear vision of your career path
- Using metrics to answer burning product questions
- What product managers can learn from biology
