What accomplishment in your product management career has brought you the highest level of satisfaction and joy? Can you narrate why?

In a bake-off between our product vs competitor's, 95% of Users(Customer Service Agents) chose our product over the other - helping us win a large deal with on of the largest Airlines in the world!
Why? - I had an instrumental role in creating the product. This was a deal where both Buyers and Users were truly impressed with the performance of B2B SaaS platform that clinched the deal!

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What aspect of product management did you struggle the most with? How did you overcome it?

Feature-User fit was the problem that I struggled with in my initial days. We used to launch features which got poor adoption as they didn't solve the user's problems.
Now, we instituted "Design Sprint" practice in the organisation to solve any big problem. Before writing a single line of code, we invest in validating our feature with our users with a prototype and learn from the same.

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What's one common myth about product management that you find common among aspiring PMs?

That you need an MBA to be a good product manager.

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What are some common pitfalls that product managers must be aware of?

1. Do not invest in a feature because CEO asked you to do. "Why" should be your favourite word :)
2. Do not just implement what your high-paying client asks - Often, clients recommend solutions without stating problems. Ask enough questions to understand the problem.
3. Do not just implement what a successful competitor implements in their product - Don't get into feature parity game that will never help you win! Create what differentiates you from rest of the players out there!

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If not product management, what career would you have picked? Are there any complimentary skillsets that you see between being a PM and your alternate choice?

If not product management, I would have picked being a UX Researcher. I love spending time with users and understanding their problems in their setup.
Complimentary skillsets - Trying to be in the shoes of your customer(Buyer and User in B2B setup) and understanding their pain-points that are worth solving!

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What is something about product management that you wish you knew when you started out?

Product Management is not just about ideating! Idea should be throughly validated, broken down into phases constantly learning from the adoption and feedback! You should have a good execution muscle to take you idea from cradle to maturity to grave!

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