Session Overview
You might have experience working on a product in some capacity, and with a product manager… but what do they do, exactly? The life of a product manager isn’t all glamorous strategy documents and customer meetings. (It’s also spreadsheets… a lot of spreadsheets.)
Discover what the responsibilities of a product manager are, and what the typical day to day looks like. We’ll delve into what a typical product needs to bridge the gap between customer needs and engineering solutions. We’ll talk through real-world anecdotes on what that looks like in practice.
We’ll also talk about how to work well across functions in a traditional engineering organisation, to get product and engineering — but also design, support, research, marketing, and sales — all working together for the same customer goal. Lastly, we’ll discuss how to decide whether a career in product management aligns with your passions and ambitions. Whether you’re an industry veteran or a newcomer, you’ll come away with a better sense of how to work as or with a product manager.
Session Key Takeaways:
- A product manager’s role is not to ship products, but to unblock customers. You don’t always need to ship a product to meet customers’ needs
- A product manager is the glue that holds the organization together, and fills the gaps where particular roles might be missing. You need to be flexible and adapt to your organization’s current situation
- There is no one product manager role, they’re all different! A product management role might be exciting for you if you’re good at understanding, synthesising, and communicating ideas, detail oriented, and enjoy juggling many balls at the same time
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