There are many resources such as books, webinars, blogs, and online courses that can help product managers improve their skills. But for time-pressed PMs, listening to podcasts is a key way to develop new ideas, learn tips from experienced product managers at top tech organizations, internalize product feature best practices, and stay motivated through stressful deadlines. Plus, podcast episodes are often less than 60 minutes, making them easy to incorporate into your afternoon walk or lunch break.
Whether it be learning how to define objectives and key results (OKRs) from a Microsoft senior PM or understanding the nuances of interviewing customers to build solid working relationships, the following product manager podcasts (listed in no particular order) are worth a listen.
1. The 5 Minute Product Manager
Quick, pithy episodes offering tactical advice for product managers at small software companies. Each episode of The 5 Minute Product Manager ranges from four to six minutes, and topics include the merits of earning your MBA, planning for worst-case scenarios, red flags to look for while hunting for a new job, and much more.
Recommended Episode: “Do you need to be technical to be a product manager?”
2. Product Talk
Hosted by SC Moatti, founding CEO of the influential product acceleration platform Products that Count, Product Talk is a weekly podcast that features interviews with rockstar PMs and product leaders ranging from Ellevest’s CPO to Netflix’s Product VP. Podcast topics include building products for long-term customer relationships, prioritizing security, and more.
Recommended Episode: “Ellevest CPO on Designing Product for Long-Term Partnerships”
3. Product Thinking with Melissa Perri
Melissa Perri, author of Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value (O’Reilly, 2019) is the host of Product Thinking, a podcast series that explores how top-performing products are made not just by one product manager or product team, but by the culture, processes, and systems of an entire whole organization. Product Thinking features interviews with top product managers who answer listener questions.
Recommended Episode: “Getting to the Bottom of Agile with Jeff Patton”
4. Product Manager Hub Podcast
A multi-faceted bi-weekly podcast, Product Manager Hub records interviews with product experts from companies such as Hotjar, Atlassian, Waze, and more. Episodes are typically 30-45 minutes long, and topics covered include product management best practices, scaling with a remote team, and product roadmap development. Hosted by the knowledgeable product lead Cyrus Eslamian (Shirazian).
Recommended Episode: “Fireside Chat with CPO of Waze Rapha Cohen”
5. The Product Podcast
Brought to you by Product School, The Product Podcast is now in its sixth season, and features interviews with PMs from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, Twitter, and other well-known tech companies and startups. Hosted by Product School CEO Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, each episode features actionable advice and inspiring insights.
Recommended Episode: “Breaking Down the Product Career Ladder”
6. This is Product Management
Hosted by Anuraag Verma, VP of Customer Development at Feedback Loop, This is Product Management interviews top product leads at the world’s biggest tech companies (such as TikTok, Discovery+, and Credit Karma) to illuminate tried-and-true product management strategies and deep dives into success metrics, innovation, and product differentiation.
Recommended Episode: “Commercialization is Product Management”
7. Product Love
Produced by ProductCraft, the Product Love podcast celebrates the deep and joyous connection that PMs develop toward the products they build. Hosted by Pendo Co-Founder Eric Boduch, listeners can learn about key product management trends, how to build a superior customer experience, developing North Star metrics, living your organization’s core values, and much more.
Recommended Episode: “Ben Golden, director of product management at Stream”
8. Product Thoughts
In Product Thoughts, veteran product leader Tim Herbig identifies some of the biggest product management challenges, and provides pithy, practical advice in episodes that are just five to seven minutes. Herbig is passionate about empowering product teams to make evidence-based decisions to build the best possible product for their customers.
Recommended Episode: “Leading and Lagging Indicators in Product Management Practice”
Podcasts for Continuing Education
Continuing your product management expertise — regardless of your experience in the field — is always a good idea. Not only will the above podcasts for product managers keep you up-to-date on product management strategies, they’ll also help keep you inspired in your role, preventing burnout.
Keeping your finger on the pulse of product management will enable you to build data-driven, valuable products for your customers.