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

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Product Management Info Session with JP Park – May 18th

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