🤦‍♂️ It's tough being a product manager - SIP #10

publishedalmost 2 years ago
2 min read

Welcome to all those who are receiving an issue from SIP for the first time. And, if you are already subscribed, thank you for sticking around and taking out 5 mins from your day for this email.

I know it's been a while since you heard from me. I apologize.

It's been a roller coaster ride in the last few weeks, and with the holidays approaching, that means realigning sprints last minute, trying to get the release wrapped up before the holidays, and so much more.

I thought I could manage the newsletter easily, but what can I say, product management is hard 🧑‍💻. Each day brings with it new challenges and problems to tackle, and that can sometimes be draining. But breaking through on those challenges is some of the most rewarding moments.

As a pm, you are constantly going to be pulled in multiple directions, but the most important thing is being able to look through the noise and focus on the goal.

This week's highlights:

❤️ Why is product management hard?
🎨 4 Design Skills Every Product Manager Should Have
🤖 A Quick Primer on the Metaverse

and more.



❤️ Why is product management hard?

There is no clear definition as a PM. Each day looks different and there is always a piece of the puzzle that is missing.

PMs have a fuzzier job description than design, engineering, marketing, and other roles. In addition, the difficulty of measuring a PM’s success makes it trickier to understand how to be good at your role.

There is always so much happening and you are constantly juggling between different tasks. In his post, Higham shares:

Like acting, product management is harder and more subtle than it appears on the outside. Like good actors, good product managers make it seem natural and effortless. Like actors, product managers are seen as the lead role, when in reality there is an entire team pulling together

Check out the post to read more.

🎨 4 Design Skills Every Product Manager Should Have

A product manager is NOT a product designer. But that does not mean, that as a PM you should completely stay away from it. Great design can create great value, and it becomes important to facilitate good design.

In this blog post, Harish calls out 4 key design skills that every product manager should be aware of:

  1. Advanced User Research Skills
  2. Basic Interaction Design Skills
  3. Taste
  4. Elementary Knowledge of Visual Design Concepts

Check out the blog post to read more on each one of these skillsets.

🤖 A Quick Primer on the Metaverse

Everyone is talking about it.

Top companies are starting to hire product managers in this space, and whatever one feels about it, it looks like the metaverse is now here to stay.

But what the heck is the metaverse?

Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 book Snow Crash, using it to mean a computer-generated universe. It is generally understood to be a highly immersive, shared virtual world where people gather to play games, socialise and to work.

Book of the Week:

Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres

Continuous Discovery Habits

How do you make sure you are building something that your users want? The answers can be found in this book.

In this book, you'll learn a structured and sustainable approach to continuous discovery. You will learn the science behind uncovering the customer intention.

The author introduces into discovery framework and gives a lot of advice which is based on scientific research, real cases, and tons of experience.


Job Board:

Entry - ​Associate Product Manager @ Activision Blizzard
Intermediate - Senior Product Manager, Insights @ Slack
Advanced - Founder, New Product Experimentation @ Facebook

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Parv Sondhi

Product Manager by Day & Writer by Night

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