The "Product web"!🕸️

Think of product management as a spider's web, the diligence with which it is spun over some real harsh conditions & how the whole structure is coherent & homogenous ought to be symbolic of PM work!

To start with a quote that’s a close representative of the real world is always great.

Often as PMs starting out afresh over those associate / junior roles as much as they feel all excited, most of them also seem totally lost over:

• having stepped into this whole new elevated state of being at the epicenter of everything

• having to be the source of information that all teams hinge upon that’s to do with product

• having to lead the way over understanding problems internal teams face and restoring order to bringing a sense of calm

• to often be the one spearheading the entire “clearing the clout” operation for everyone right from the top all the way to the bottom, when your mental state varies between shades of blackout - lack of clarity - self-doubt - partial clarity

And, what does that do?

That’s what perhaps leads to one or many of these questions:

• do I have to get involved with marketing taking up the job of curating all those pitches covering every one of those user persona & the individual uses cases?

• having dabbled with sales prior to this stint here I think it’s only fair and also natural for people to expect that I hit the ground rolling with sales teams helping them with those 1:1s converting MQLs moving them across the funnel stage-wise, so isn’t it right that I ought to get more involved in sales operations from drafting direct mails / start meetings or getting on sales calls with an aim to convert them to PQLs and then gun for closure?

• coming from the Tech background isn’t it a given that I ought to take more responsibility & initiative in getting involved with Dev, Tech teams participating actively in solutioning as I am the senior most with the highest man hours of experience and know it better than the others here? and I guess I have to get very deeply technical too?

• having spent enough time in support / customer success teams earlier I totally understand the users and what friction points they go through and how I’ve got to quickly assign & route those tickets to my internal teams getting the “solution built ASAP” and patch it back to the user community in an aim to service them better?

Well - these are all 🚩🚩🚩 to a varying level!

Take a look at the image here.

It is descriptive of the interface a PM ought to have with all teams in an organization whilst also depicting how that adds up to the individual phases of the PLC (Product Life Cycle).

So, those could be the teams / stakeholders that PMs ought to interact with over their regular workflow. When the duties you’d play as a PM may vary and be subjective to your place of work, these could largely be the ones you’d be expected to perform in general.

But it doesn’t end there.

There are other aspects to PM work which could be deeply subjective & implicit. The reason I use the word “implicit” is because they form an integral part of every PM’s job and workflow for sure and aren’t explicitly quoted anywhere but are implied as they are largely perceived to be understood.

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Conclusion

If you’re an aspirant trying to break into product or you’re playing the role of an APM, JPM, PM in any organization whether it is a start-up or big billion, this PM Web could be a good place to start off in helping you come to terms with all teams, cope with your role and handle all expectations and sync up harmoniously.
Also, please remember, this is an evolving space. So, make sure you don’t consider anything here as the gospel truth. Make sure you keep learning and factor those into your workflow continuously on an ongoing basis.

Wishing you all the very best!

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