“What got you here, won’t get you there” I was fortunate enough to experience this in a good way, twice First when I went from engineer to engineering manager Second when I went from #productmanager to PM leader If the first one was hard, second one was one of the toughest Off course, getting promoted in #productmanagement has its perks – Expanded impact You can influence the team’s work and shape the product direction. -Leadership development You’ll mentor, coach, and grow your team members (and yourself!). -Skill set growth You’ll gain experience in team management, strategy, and collaborat ..read more

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist – Picasso Riding the PM wave For product managers, especially those who’ve recently joined, the role can be super exciting. But we all know that building products is no easy feat and it’s natural to get carried away or get overwhelmed. Also, for those new to the field, there’s a feeling of having to follow a set way of thinking, which has been drilled down by concepts, theories and frameworks. There’s an emphasis on being ‘book smart’ over ‘street smart’. Plans, plans, plans! For example, the 30-60-90 plan sounds like a great way ..read more

The most frequent thing you do as a #productmanager, Might not be helping your product succeed… And here I am referring to managing the product backlog, And defining the requirements or scenarios and stories, You may have some “experts” say things like: “Feature wars are over” or “Features don’t matter”. While that statement is to be taken with a pinch (or 2) of salt The larger point is: are features enough? In most cases the answer is “No”. When you are spending so much time: – talking to customers – getting the requirements cleared – writing stories and managing backlog – defining sprint sco ..read more

“Ideas are a dime a dozen, execution is everything.” If you interact with VCs or people who have built product businesses, They will confirm this. Of course, like everything that is catchy, this is only partially true. Biggest problem lies in how people vet and validate their idea. Coming up with ideas could be easy and fun But validating and vetting is hard work and also takes time. If you are an entrepreneur or even someone driving a new product initiative in a larger company – a product manager, You are likely to fall in love with your idea. It will feel like everyone in the world will want ..read more

Becoming a #productmanager is hard Building a #startup is harder Being a #consultant helping #founders and #productleaders is one of the hardest things I have had to learn. (And yes, it’s harder than cracking JEE and studying rocket science)! And it’s far from done, still learning every day. For a founder or a PM to be good at their job they need a lot of domain understanding. Not just the tech, but how business is done in that industry. What are the common problems faced by businesses, trends, regulatory changes, geography specific needs and issues? What are some of the innovations being used ..read more

Your #productmanagement certification could be worthless. Let me correct that a bit – it has some value, If you are getting your first job in product, If you don’t have real world exposure to building products, If you have never really learnt the theory, Does that mean all training for #productmanager is a waste of time and money? No, not all of it, but most places offering certifications are wasting your time and money. Whether it is a training institute or a reputed MBA college. Any PM learning based on theory alone is a waste. Product Management is not a theoretical skill There is some valu ..read more

I was and still am (sometimes) guilty of this… When I come across a business problem or a technology problem. I get very excited about the problem and tech. About what can be done to solve it? What else can I learn? Which customers, businesses, experts can I speak with? And this is all good and important, But, there is something far more important. It’s building the TEAM to solve the problem Building the TEAM to create the business. Educating the TEAM, finding the right people. Getting them excited about the problem. (Or finding people who are already…) All big enough problems are not solved b ..read more

Product management is one of the most lucrative professions and is growing rapidly as is the demand for product managers. In fact, product management is expected to reach USD 31.84 billion by 2025. In this article, we will try to explain what product management is. Is it just the process of delivering a product? What else does it include? And how do you make a career out of it?  What is product management? Product management is a strategic practice that streamlines the product life-cycle journey from development to positioning it in the market with a clear focus on the product and its cus ..read more

“Founders must be jack of all trades” “In a startup everyone must do everything” Usually true – if you are just getting started. But follow this for too long and it can be really dangerous. Many #startups and early stage products fall in the trap of having one person decide everything. It may work for some things, but the one area it doesn’t work is when defining what your product should do aka #productmanagement. Lot of product building in the early stages is about exploring and validating. Looking at different aspects of tech, business, marketing, sales, competition. Discussing and debating ..read more

Most companies hiring #productmanagers have realized this by now, But it is hard to figure out during the interviews. You need someone with strong research, communication, problem-solving and prioritization skills, Domain knowledge and tech can be taught faster than some of these above, arguably. Ability to empathise with users is another important one. Haven’t found a test for that yet. Ideas? But how do you test for these skills in a short interview process? Here is something we have used with good success ratio. It’s not perfect, but we found some very capable junior hires with this Ask fo ..read more