Welcome to all those who are receiving an issue from SIP for the first time. Appreciate everyone taking out 5 mins from their day to go through the newsletter.
Product management is hard. Even after spending more than half a decade as a PM, I still suffer from Imposter Syndrome. As a PM, we are constantly context switching, exposing our inadequacies frequently. This can take a toll on us.
Imposter Syndrome is real, especially as a PM. But I want to tell you, you are not alone. Reports show that around 40% of product managers experience impostor syndrome frequently or all the time.
We are all in this together and always remember that the PM community is there for support.
This week's highlights:
🎨 Design - A behavioral approach to product design
🤖 Technology - What To Know About NFTs
📂 Business - Demystifying Product Management’s Role in Pricing Strategy
❤️ Special - Embrace Your Imposter Syndrome
and more.
🧠 Embrace Your Imposter Syndrome
PMs do not stick to a single domain. We are generalists in a specialists world. This can take a toll on us and usually manifests in the form of imposter syndrome.
We are always in meetings with multiple teams. No wonder we feel like everyone is smarter than us. As a PM, we're expected to be experts on the product, with answers to every question that can come up. That's a lot of expectations, and that means feeling like we are always struggling to do our best.
In this video, Martin talks about how being the odd one out is also a product manager’s greatest strength, and one we need to embrace.
| Read More |
🎨 A behavioral approach to product design
At Opower, the team has taken a unique behavioral approach to product design, leveraging the latest behavioral science research to create useful and delightful user experiences.
They are focussed on their goal to motivate everyone on earth to save energy, and so behavioral science plays a big role in their process.
The team developed a simple four-stage framework that they now use to guide their design process and evaluate the behavioral effectiveness of their products.
Check out the blog post to find out more.
| Read More |
📂 Demystifying Product Management’s Role in Pricing Strategy
When was the last time you priced a product as a PM. While pricing might not be the main responsibility of a PM, it is still part of the product that you bring to market.
How a product is marketed, priced, positioned, and packaged is intrinsically linked to the overall experience. So it makes sense that we need to at least be involved in pricing. PMs should, at a minimum, be one of the key players involved in defining how much to charge.
| Read More |
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) seem to have exploded out of the ether this year. But what is it?
NFT stands for non-fungible token.
It’s generally built using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but that’s where the similarity ends. An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos.
Essentially, NFTs are like physical collector’s items, only digital. So instead of getting an actual oil painting to hang on the wall, the buyer gets a digital file instead.
Check out this post for a great primer on NFT.
| Read More |
Book of the Week:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Why you should read - Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential.
Allen talks about his GTD framework and provides readers with an outline to help achieve productivity and achieve their goals. As a PM, these might be helpful as we try and find pockets of productivity throughout the day.
Job Board:
Entry - University Grad, Associate Product Manager @ Coinbase
Intermediate - Senior Product Manager, Meetings @ Zoom
Advanced - Associate Director, Product Manager (Mobile Apps) @ Chewy
If you are enjoying this newsletter, please spread the word and share the joy with others as well 😀