How should my career look like as a product designer who wants to switch to product manager? What are the skills I should acquire?
Short answer
Empty the cup first.
Long answer
Product managers have no skill. All they have is attributes. If you have an ownership approach, if you have humility, if you're willing to be high energy, to be a mirror, these attributes are what matter. I have worked with chartered accountants, doctors, architects who are PMs. They've got no understanding of what engineering is about, but they can really help engineering teams and design teams to create solutions. The other things, whether it's running an analytics report or working with data scientists, they can all be taught. Those basic skills can be taught or somebody else can do it for you. The core, the ownership attitude plus common sense and humility, these things are critical for a PM. They are not so critical for a designer.