Resources for Product Management
At every level of the Product career roadmap, include:
- Top 3 skills to master.
- Resources to help.
- Case Study questions.
Jr. Product Manager
Enterprising skills: Start with Communications, Excellent communication skills to engage with stakeholders.
Entrepreneurial skills: Start with Product technicalitie, Understand how the product works, what technologies are used in its development, and how changes in technology might impact the product.
Empirical skills: Start with analysis, Junior product managers need to be able to analyze data to identify trends, make informed decisions, and solve problems. This includes being able to use data analysis tools, interpret the results, and apply the findings to improve the product.
Content Resource: “The Ultimate Guide to Resources for Product Managers” provides a collection of hand-picked resources specifically for the product management field.
Course Resource: “Product Management Online Course: From Design to Launch” is a course offered by Harvard DCE that teaches the important business skills you need to be an effective product manager.
Community Resource: “10 Communities Product Managers Should Join Today” provides a list of communities that product managers should join.
Practice Resource: “Product Management Exercises: Master Your Product Manager Interview Skills” provides a list of product manager interview questions and answers from the top tech companies around the world.
A tech startup was looking to launch a new product and hired a Junior Product Manager to assist in the process. The Junior Product Manager was tasked with researching the target market and buyer persona, speaking to customers to gather feedback, developing the product roadmap and product requirements, analyzing data for problems and potential solutions, and working with other departments to ensure product deadlines were met.
The Junior Product Manager conducted extensive market research and identified a gap in the market for a user-friendly project management tool. They spoke to potential customers and gathered valuable feedback on what features they would like to see in such a tool. Using this feedback, they developed a product roadmap and set out the product requirements.
The Junior Product Manager worked closely with the development team to ensure that the product was built according to the roadmap and met all the requirements. They also coordinated with the marketing team to ensure that the product was properly marketed to the target audience.
The product was successfully launched and received positive feedback from customers. The Junior Product Manager’s role was crucial in the successful launch of the product.
Product Manager
Empirical Skills: Focus on Strategic Thinking: Strategic thinking is one of the most crucial skills for product managers as they must see the bigger picture and make decisions that align with business goals. A product manager with strong strategic thinking skills can identify opportunities and threats, prioritize initiatives, pivot when needed, and make the right decisions at the right time.
Empathetic skills: Focus on Customer Empathy: Customer empathy is putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and thinking from their perspective. This skill is crucial for understanding the needs and desires of your customers, which is key to developing successful products.
Experiential Skills: User Experience (UX) Design: This involves understanding and prioritizing the needs and behaviors of the users. A product manager with strong UX design skills can create products that are not only functional and visually appealing, but also provide a seamless and intuitive user experience. This includes creating user personas, conducting usability testing, designing user interfaces, and iterating on designs based on user feedback.
Content Resource: 4 Design Skills Every Product Manager Should Have – Mind the Product
Course Resource: “Product Management Online Course: From Design to Launch” 280 Group | Product Management Training and Consulting
Community Resource: Product Coalition
Practice Resource: Product Manager Skills Assessment Test | Vervoe
Product Manager at a E-commerce Company
An e-commerce company noticed a high cart abandonment rate on their website and hired a Product Manager to find a solution. The Product Manager, with a strong focus on UX design, decided to conduct user testing sessions and surveys to understand the user behavior.
Through this research, they found that users were finding the checkout process confusing and lengthy. Using their UX design skills, the Product Manager redesigned the checkout process to make it more intuitive and user-friendly.
They introduced a progress bar to let users know how far they were in the process, simplified the form filling process, and introduced a one-click checkout option for returning users.
After implementing these changes, the company saw a significant decrease in cart abandonment rate and an increase in completed purchases. This case highlights the importance of UX design skills in improving user experience and achieving business goals.
