day in the life of product manager
TRANSCRIPT
Day in the Life of Product Manager
/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementNY
Venue Sponsored by
NARavi Patel
• Lead Instructor at Product School
• VP of Product & Strategy at AD/FIN
www.productschool.com
Day in the Life of Product Manager
PHOTO
Day in the Life of A PM
Ravi Patel – VP Product @ AD/FIN
Products I’ve Worked On
What doesn’t a PM Do?
• Write Code (Engineering)
• Create mock-ups (Design)
• Sign deals (Business Development)
• Plan PR (Marketing)
What does a PM DO?
PM’s Role on the Team
• You are a team leader– Set the Cadence and Vision
– Brainstorm Effectively
– Manage Product Operations
Product Manager
• Definition: A PM helps their team (and company) ship the right products to their users
Credit to Josh Elman
1: Help your team
• Coordination – ensuring that the team is planning, making decisions, and working together effectively
• Communication – making sure everyone understands what is happening, when, and why, especially as things change
• Company Focus is Your Focus• Understand and communicate the company’s overall
goals and objectives
2: Help your company
• SHIPPING > PERFECTION
• Understand company’s overall goals and objectives and how your team fits in the broader vision – founders vision
• Align goals and metrics with company strategy
• Prioritize Ruthlessly
3: Ship
• Delivering products to users
• Always be testing, trying out the products, and listening to early feedback
• Clear goals and objectives can help final tradeoffs
4: the right product• PMs must understand the tricky balance between getting it right and
getting it out the door
• Novel solutions that feel like the right product and solves the right user needs.
• Getting a sense from the founders and other leaders to make sure the product feels right
• Listening to early feedback from users
• Measure whether the product shipped is the right one
5: for your users• Articulating core use case – really telling the story of who
should use the product and why
• PMs are advocates for their users and represent users in nearly every conversation when making decisions
• Understand target users, what their challenges and issues are, and how the product should deliver the value and delight
• A good product today is better than a perfect one tomorrow
What is a typical day?
“Special Days”
• Big-picture thinking.
• Product & Feature Ideas.
• Customer feedback & relationships.
• Demos & training sessions.
What Was my last Full Week LikE?
Daily Basis
• Strategic Planning• Tactical/execution – Project Management• Communicating with senior leaders• Talking to Customers • User Testing• Data Analysis• Internal Meetings
• EVERYDAY IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Daily Challenges
• Lack of Resources
• Internal Processes
• Iterating Complications
• Prioritization
Small vs Big Company
WHAT MAKES A GREAT PM?
• Technically Capable
• Strategically Oriented
• Constantly Communicating
• Marketing Aware
• Problem Solving
QUESTIONS
Upcoming Courses
www.productschool.com
APPLY AT
Weekdays: June 7th Weekends: June 4th
Product Management Info Session with JP Park – May 18th
UPCOMING WORKSHOP
www.productschool.com
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