THE PM SCOOP | PM BASICS

THE PM SCOOP
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT BASICS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Product Management & Technology

Club, IIM Calcutta

Contributions by :

Alankrit Srivastava
Shivam Kapoor
Mohit Yadav
Samarth Ladia
Chaya N Aishwarya
Vaibhav Singh
Deepshikha Pokale
 NEW HERE?
L E T U S S H O W Y O U A R O U N D

CONTENT

Introdction

Tech Background?

Working as a PM

PM Industry

Gearing up

Snapshot of product management Product Management? Project

Management?… Potayto, Potahto,
Product management is an organizational function that
Right? No!! A Huge Difference
guides every step of a product’s lifecycle: from

development, to positioning and pricing, by focusing on

Before going into role specifics, let’s first try to
the product and its customers, first and foremost.
understand the terms ‘Product’ and ‘Project’. A project
Product management is vital to delivering innovations
is a temporary endeavor with well defined start and end
and driving business growth. It is an important
dates. They have a set goal and resources allocated, it's
organizational role that is growing in popularity.
up to the team to manage to deliver the project on the
Product managers can be found at all the companies
communicated date. On the other hand, a product is
that are building products and technologies for
anything ( hardware/Physical product or software) that
external customers (consumers, end users, partners,
is introduced into the market to cater to the needs of a
etc.) as well as internal customers (employees). In tech,
certain section of consumers. A product once released
where entrenched products are quickly uprooted by
will undergo a product life cycle where it transitions
newer and better solutions, there is more need than
through the following stages : Introduction, growth,
ever for an intimate understanding of customers and
maturity, decline. However, the skills for project
the ability to create tailored solutions for them. That’s
management would definitely be needed for a product
where product management comes in.
manager.
Product managers are responsible for the strategy,
Product Manager in a nutshell can be considered as
roadmap, and feature definition for a product or
the CEO of the product. They set the strategy for the
product line. The position may also include marketing,
product and work on an end to end release of the
forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities.
product and maintain it all through its life cycle.
Product managers work closely with sales, support,
Project Manager focuses more on the execution side.
marketing, design and engineering teams to deliver the
They take the vision from a supervising manager and
best possible customer experience.
develop a project timeline around. They fix the timeline

and make budget estimations to reach their goal. Key

activities involved are: Risk and issue management ;

Planning and resource scheduling.

 Some highly valued skills in a Product Manager are -

- User-centricity

- Data-driven

- Quick decision making

- Problem Solving skills

- An eye for design

- An experimentation mindset

- People/Communication skills

- Organizational swiss army knives

- Personal Leadership

Does it involve coding?

No, A product Manager is not expected to learn coding.

However, a crucial part of the job is to understand the

feature from a development perspective to have

accurate deadlines and budget figures while planning.

This can be better done by having conducive

Coders only?
relationships with your developers and learning things

on the go, with experience.

Can only Engineers get into Product Will PM involve Data Analytics?
Management Roles?
Yes, Product Management will most definitely involve

Analytics as it proves to be of crucial importance in the

Product Management is an open field which requires a
market research phase. Even further in the lifecycle of
unique combination of skill sets. The prime most of
the product, PMs use analytics to track performance of
which are Communication and Personal Leadership.
modules, testing out new features frequently
Extremely good levels of these are required in all the
overlooking metrics such as DAU, average session
stakeholder management that the PM role entails.
lengths etc.
Apart from that, a PM must be good at at least 3 out

the following 4: Technology, Data, Problem Solving and

Note: Analytics has more importance while working as a
Design! The reason is that there are lots of career
PM though it may or may not be asked during the
trajectories that enable one to master any 3 of these,
interview for a PM.
engineering never being a necessity. The only

correlation between PM and engineering is that there

are too many engineers who apply for the role as

opposed to those of other backgrounds. But that too is

changing.

General skills an ideal PM would

possess
A PM, while not necessarily a technologist, must be a

technology enthusiast. They should be aware of the

happenings of the industry and must actively

participate in those conversations. They should be

willing to embrace technology at all touchpoints and

be willing to constantly evolve and learn.

 Product marketing and go-to-market activities
(External)
- Competitive differentiation
- Positioning and messaging

- Naming and branding

- Customer communication

- Product launches

- Press and analyst relations

What does it mean to be a CEO of a

product? Do I get to lead any team?
Do I assign work to Engineers?

By being a CEO of a product you are responsible for

handling all the aspects of a product, whether it is

related to marketing, finance or functionality. It is the

responsibility of the Product Manager to manage the

existing product requirements and define the vision of

the product roadmap. You will be responsible for

deciding the future of the product, meaning that you’ll

need to change the course of a product roadmap

based market trends and shift in your customer’s

preferences. However, you will be very different from a

CEO because the people from the various departments

In the Office - (like marketing, finance, engineering, etc.) report to a

CEO but none directly report to a Product Manager.

Working as a PM
Next obvious question is “Then how does a PM get the

work done?”. The answers to this question in 1 word is

“data + soft skills”. The Product Manager needs to

present data so as to make people believe that why

Roles and responsibilities of a PM and how something needs to be done. The term data is

too broad, to break it down there are two types of data

majorly used by the Product Managers - competitor

Product managers have both internal and external
analysis and consumer data. To summarize, A PM is
product management responsibilities.
responsible for defining and redefining the product
Internal product management involves gathering
roadmap based on his or her analysis and to make
customer research, competitive intelligence, and
others understand why his or her actions will make the
industry trends — as well as setting strategy and
product better.
managing the product roadmap.

External product management includes product

marketing responsibilities, such as messaging and What teams do I work with as a PM?
branding, customer communication, new product

launches, advertising, PR, and events.

The product manager is the person responsible for
.
defining the why, when, and what of the product that
Product strategy and roadmap planning (Internal) the engineering team builds.
- Strategy and Vision
The two broader classification of teams a PM works
- Customer interviews
with are :
- Defining features and requirements
Technical Side
- Building roadmaps
- Design Team: Product manager creates wireframes
- Release management
and mockups which allows aggregation of the whole
- Go-to resource for engineering
business solution. This is done by working in tandem with
- Sales and support training
the Design Team(UI/UX Team).
- Engineering Team: Product engineering is responsible
What should I look for in a company
for developing the product and keeping it operating.

The product manager brings in the business vision plus

when applying for a Product
the solution design made by UX people — based on an Management role?
understanding of the customer’s need or problem —

product engineering team “builds” the product.

Responsibilities
Make sure that the job matches your current level of
Non- Technical Side
skills and management experience. In the tech business,
- Senior Magement
many young profiles are actually more robust than older
- Marketing
ones.
- Sales
Professionalism
- Customer Support
On the outside, most companies today have shiny

websites and smooth communication strategies.

Who would be my reporting However, this seriousness might not be reflected in day-

manager in a Product Management to-day operations.

Growth
role? Yes, as a Product Manager you’re the one who is

supposed to bring growth to the business. However, you

need to think of your own “business”! Your career is

Your supervisor is highly dependent on the
important and any company worth its salt should be
organization’s structure. Although, generally when you
able to offer opportunities to advance for employees
start out, there is a senior PM who would be
who fulfill their duties.
responsible for a team of PMs working in related
Personality
features. The senior PM would be headed directly or
Hey, some things you cannot help! Often, it is how we
indirectly by a Group Product Manager who is
feel what defines where we choose to work. Whether it
responsible for managing a multitude of
is the company’s stance on certain issues, the way they
features/Products across various domains.
market their products or even the colors in its logo; the

fact is, sometimes your guts will tell you to stay away.

Innovation
This whole business is based on disruption; whether you

Looking for a Job? like it, or not.

Training: In connection to this, the company must offer

some way to bring your skills to the next level.

What are the most interesting

Which companies recruit for product
domains to work in as a PM?
manager roles?
There are many interesting domains out there to

explore. To name a few, FinTech has always been one

Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, BlackBuck,
of the top domains for a PM. These days, there is a
Samsung, Media.Net, VMock, Moonfrog, Sprinklr and
huge rise in EdTech and HealthTech (or MedTech)
many more. PM being a booming field in the country,
platforms coming up which are a great space for PMs
almost every company which is having in-house
to work in with new ML and deep learning algorithms
development of its product is turning towards Product
being developed. Analytics based and AdTech are also
Management now.
interesting domains to work in.
 Which tools do I use/mention when
Product Design asked about wireframes?
"Simple, but functional"
The tool is not really the important bit here. What would

be expected of you is to make clear & self-explanatory

Making Wireframes, Mockups and UI wireframes depicting the feature and the app flow in

Designs sufficient detail. The wireframes or flowcharts should be

able to first depict the functionality and later the design

language accurately. Some popular tools are -

Product manager has the whole feature idea and wants
Balsamiq, Figma, Draw.io, Adobe XD.
to convey the same to the other teams, design is an

essential part of the job. Typically, the wireframes are

used to clearly explain the page/site layout and user

experience — and help convey this to your

design, and engineering teams. The key goal is to make

product,

Gearing up
for the role
sure that everyone is on the same page. You want to

eliminate confusion or room for miscommunication. You

could have separate conversations with your design and

engineering teams to verbally describe the different

parts of the page and what it should do. How much knowledge about tech
products should I have?

A good PM needn’t necessarily be a software expert,

but should have the technical acumen necessary to

prioritize projects. A core understanding of product

complexity from a code perspective ensures proper

team collaboration, respect, and expectations.

Maintaining a reliable code base is just as important as

shipping new features to customers—and high-quality

PMs can help to minimize engineering risks.Technical

knowledge in depth is not a prerequisite but a helpful

tool for a PM to tackle the everyday decisions without

which it will be difficult to perform tasks in time and

take appropriate actions.

How can I prepare for PM?

Start analysing the tech products around you using the

frameworks available. Also, one thing of utmost

importance is to develop the analytical and structured

way of thinking when analysing a product to have an

amazing user understanding, business strategic

perspective and a financial perspective as well.

 Foot in the Door
Differentiating yourself

What should I do to get more points

in PM?

Case competitions seem as the easier route. Getting

involved in live projects is also a very effective means

of communicating that you have experience with

getting your hands dirty in the field. Getting involved in

writing articles on LinkedIn/Medium etc. (once you feel

you have sufficient mastery about a certain topic of

course) is another way. Be mindful though that writing

articles willy-nilly or copy-pasting content from here

and there will not add any value and will in fact give a

very wrong signal to anyone that comes across it.

How do I keep up with the technology

and the new products that come up? Which (if any) competitions should
one participate in to gain PM
You can follow prominent personalities on social media
experience?
like twitter. There are multiple blogs channels for tech

enthusiasts as well, one such being ours (do subscribe

Participate in all PM-related case competitions,
guys ;D). There are also many good YouTube channels
especially the ones that the top companies come up
like Exponent, The Product School, etc. and podcasts
with. You end up learning the most by working on such
like the Product Podcast. Twitter is perhaps the best
cases. They also help you get closer to converting the
source to engage with all the brilliant PMs out there
companies of your dreams. Also, keep an eye out for
who keep posting such high level of content based on
the events that are going to be launched under the
their corporate careers or their entrepreneurial journeys.
collaborative banner of IIMs A, B, C and L.
But in general, there isn’t a specific set of activities that

you can just pick up to get into a PM role, it’s more of an

innate love for technology and a result of the set of

skills you pick up over the years. In Conclusion, it's the

Should I know about the products of
enthusiasm that would matter as there are enough a company that has shortlisted me
resources for every niche technology once you start to
for the PM role before I sit for the
dig into the world wide web.

interviews?
What books to read?
For preparation of interviews - Books available on the Yes, definitely. When you sit for an interview, they might

Prep Forum and recommended by the Prep Team are ask you to design a product for them and in situations

essential. Although, there are many good books on like these you would want to know what all products

Product Management, if you are interested to check out already exist. This would also help you to build a

after you are done with the prep books, the following is product using the existing functionalities that the

a starters list: company already has. Though, the company wouldn’t

- Swipe to unlock expect you to know all the products but a few of them

- How to build a billion dollar app could go a long way in building your knowledge base.

- Catalyst

- Inspired

- Hooked
How much technical acumen is How do I solve cases? How to
expected from PM candidates in proceed?
Interviews?
One very effective way is to discuss cases with your

peers though first you are recommended to understand

A PM is expected to have a certain degree of technical
the framework and read some sample cases (Decode
knowledge so as to be capable of overseeing
and Conquer book is a very good starting point with its
implementation of a product/feature. Also, a product
CIRCLES framework). Just pick any product that you
manager is expected to be aware of the technologies
use on a regular basis and critique on its features,
in the market and be able to take a call on which one
design and shortcomings. Discuss how you would
should be used for a certain feature development. Be
redesign the app (who will be your target users, what
specially mindful of the tech products you use in your
pain point are you trying to solve, how will you prioritize
day to day life for ex. MS office, Google Maps,
the features for initial MVP(Minimum Viable Product),
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. A basic knowledge of
what metrics will you measure to gauge the success of
features of the products that you use in your day to day
your product). This exercise can be done individually as
life is expected. It also serves as a good practice to
well whenever you find some free time on your hands
apply your frameworks to critique such products and
(though peer discussions are more enriching). Follow
discuss among peers.
PM exclusive groups on social media such as Product

School, Exponent, Associate Product Managers Club

etc. to read more sample cases. stellarpeers.com also

has a great repository for PM cases.

Do follow us for more

PM things