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

You get satisfaction and joy only when you work on  sectors and problems that you want to solve personally. I relish working on problems where there are no defined playbooks on how to approach the sector. There is always so much to learn and unlearn when you come in with a fresh perspective.

I have been fortunate to work on products across sectors in India, including launching a student friendly version of online classes in Byjus, launching Paytm Money from scratch, and setting up the PM team and working on multiple products in Practo. The contexts and the problems that we tried to solve in each of these engagements were starkly different.

Each of these engagements have brought peak levels of satisfaction and joy and it will be difficult to single out one. However, in each of these engagements, what brings utmost happiness is positive feedback from users on how your product has helped in making some aspects of their life much better or easy, be it a student at Byjus, an investor from Tier 2 city at Paytm Money or a patient who was looking to book an appointment with a doctor for a medical condition.

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

At each stage of your career, you will have various challenges.Challenges make the journey of a product manager enjoyable and less predictable.  When you are a junior product manager, it is hard to manage the expectations of all stakeholders in an organization. When you are at middle-level, it is the balance between innovation and execution that is a challenge. When you are a product leader, the challenge is in attracting the right kind of talented,passionate PMs and mentoring them to perform at the highest level. As long as you learn from your mistakes and failures at each stage, understand your struggles and don't repeat the mistakes in the future, it may not be a challenge to overcome any hurdles.

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

One of the most common analogies of a Product Manager is where a PM is referred as a “CEO of the Product”. It is not only inaccurate, but also paints a surrogate picture of authority and ultimate decision-making power to product management aspirants.  This picture often impedes the need to build trust and credibility with peers in other teams.

Product Management is team work and you have to bring the best out of everyone working with you across functions, whether it is engineering, design or other functions. A more appropriate analogy for the PM role is that of a film director who is a true orchestrator who has to lead the film crew. I have written a post on this at https://productpoint.substack.com

Certifications are overhyped. The work that you do in an organisation and the subsequent learning is what will help you move forward and not any of the paid certifications that anybody can take which are being offered anywhere.

Product Management is not a new discipline. I was fortunate to learn from very talented PMs in India way back in 2007 who created fantastic products in consumer internet companies at that time. Even today, so many aspiring PMs are making the same career mistakes that a lot of us made when we started our careers. It is imperative that you choose a few mentors who will guide you the right way and will play the role of being an anchor for your multitude of questions.

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

If you are an entry level PM, when you choose a company to work for, you should look at the people who will be working with you, the impact you will be able to create and your learning rather than the prestige of the brand or the monetary benefits that the company may offer.

If you are a mid-level PM, you should value the relationships and ensure that these relationships are intact even after you leave the organisation.

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

Life is never short of choices and what you are now at this moment is a result of the choices you have consciously or unconsciously made in your life.

My parents were Kerala Govt. officers and when I was in school, I wanted to become a civil service officer, but later decided later to pursue any career option with a higher blend of technology. I had an option of becoming a doctor, software engineer, management consultant and FMCG brand/ sales manager at various stages of life :) I enjoy being in a Product Management role and am content and happy.

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

Do not be afraid to ask questions or seek help when you need it. It is not a sign of weakness, but of courage to learn something new and a trait of curiosity.

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