Trevor Rush on trading engineering for PM, hardware-centric software, and enabling remote collaboration

Product State Q&A

Trevor Rush is a Group Product Manager at Logitech B2B, where he is helping build the future of remote and hybrid work.
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EC: As many PMs, you started in software engineering. What motivated the switch and what advice do you give to developers with PM aspirations?

TR: I loved my experience being a software engineer, working on tough problems, always learning new tools, etc. What I didn’t like was just working on whatever came down the pipeline, not knowing what other parts of the business were doing for our success and how it all tied together. Like a lot of new engineering grads, I didn’t really know product management existed, until the startup that I worked at hired one. She ended up becoming one of my first mentors.

This is where it really clicked for me that product management is really what I wanted to do. I love being able to work cross-functionally across the business with different teams to provide meaningful impact for our business and customers.

For developers looking to make the jump to product, I always recommend getting more involved with your product team. Ask them about the role, see if you can get involved in more design reviews, ask about the roadmap, and see if you can sit in on some customer calls.

Learn everything you can about the role and grow that relationship with the team. Make your intentions known. That way when an appropriate role opens up you are much better positioned to be a good candidate.

Melissa Perri talks about this on her Ken Norton (Product Thinking) podcast episode — that product is really a profession of apprenticeship and finding people to learn from and hone the craft of product management. Would recommend giving it a listen to those who are interested!

EC: What does collaboration look like at Logitech across hardware & software?

TR: Traditionally, Logitech has been a very hardware-centric company. This has really changed in the last handful of years. Not only have we as a company taken on extremely ambitious software projects, but they are integral to our product experiences.

Software at Logitech is now considered at the outset of any project and we work hand in hand with hardware to ensure we’re making the best decisions for both the hardware and software customer experience during development.

For example, our new Brio 500 series with RightSight auto framing. This is a great example of how our hardware and software teams collaborate through the entire development process to deliver amazing products.

EC: How has Logitech shifted its product strategy to facilitate remote work?

TR: At Logitech B2B our mission has always been to provide a remote work experience that is better than being in the room.

Over the last couple of years with the pandemic, we’ve really stayed true to this mission. We introduced some great new products and features such as Logi Dock which helps declutter your desk and a provide seamless one-touch meeting join experience with Logi Tune.

We also introduced remote management of personal devices for IT managers via our Sync cloud management to give IT managers further visibility and control over their deployed devices.

We have a lot more in the pipeline and we can’t wait to share it with everyone!