This document provides an overview of product management and advice for transitioning into the field. It defines what product management is and is not, outlines the key skills required and common mistakes made by PMs. It also describes the typical growth progression and day-to-day responsibilities of a PM, and recommends sources to follow and actions to fast track learning.

1. Transitioning into
Product Management
Ankur Sharma

2. @ankurdinesh
About me
Director - Products
11+ years of building & scaling products from scratch
Help startups on growth, platform issues and product.
Alumni:

3. @ankurdinesh
What am I covering today?
What is Product Management?
Skills required for effective PM
Common Mistakes PMs make
Growth Progression as PM
Day in a life of PM
Fast track your PM learning
Sources to Read & Follow

4. @ankurdinesh
What Product Management is not?
Product Management is not Project Management
Product Management is not requirements gathering
Product Management is not a conventional Manager
Product Management is not Marketing
Product Management is not Deep Visual Design

5. @ankurdinesh
What is Product Management?

6. @ankurdinesh
So, what does a Product Manager do?
Help team (and company) ship the right product to
users and deliver measurable benefits to org
drive:

7. @ankurdinesh
Skills required for effective PM
Self Starter / Task Master
User Empathy
Ability to prioritise
Communication Skills
Ability to evolve
Understands tricky balance between getting it right & getting it out
the door

8. @ankurdinesh
Common mistakes PMs make
Fool themselves into thinking they are the customer
Leverage their position (“Because I said so” never works)
Don’t say no to stakeholders
Don’t over-communicate
Worry about winning the battles (and losing wars)

9. @ankurdinesh
Common mistakes PMs make
Don’t eat the dog food
Invent new behaviors
Build for all
Build everything in one go
Stop talking to their users
Lose sight of their key metric or goal

10. @ankurdinesh
Growth Progression as PM
Pretty much every PM starts as an individual
contributor
Typical PM hierarchy looks like:

11. @ankurdinesh
A typical day in a life of PM

12. @ankurdinesh
Atypical Day in a life of PM
Atypical Day:
Customer Day
Data Day
UX Brainstorming Day
Strategy / Roadmap Day

13. @ankurdinesh
Fast Track your PM learning
1. Find a Mentor
2. Read (a lot)
3. Explore: Go to meetups
4. Talk to Product Managers
5. Write blog to verbalise thoughts on product &
services interaction

14. @ankurdinesh
Sources to Read & Follow
http://www.sharmaankur.com/2016/05/good-reads-for-aspiring-product-manager.html

15. Backup

16. @ankurdinesh
Enterprise vs Consumer Product
Management
Enterprise Consumer
Everything flows from the business
model & buyers
Everything flows from Users
Sales/Subscription Matters Scale/Virality Matters
Customer ≠ User Every customer is a user
Reliability > Usability User Experience is King
Longer sales & dev cycles Cycles usually < 6 months

17. @ankurdinesh
Startup vs Big Companies Product
Management
Startups Big Companies
Biggest Challenge: Resources Biggest Challenge: Prioritisation
Build for growth Build for Scale
Ad-hoc requirements run the project (Formal) Processes run the project
Roadmap ~ 3-6 months Roadmap = 1-2 Years
Focus on new features Focus on later stages of product lifecycle
Product Vision = Founder(s)’ Vision Requirements are derived from competitive
analysis and white spaces