Pranam Product Management Essentials

Tools and Techniques for Becoming an Effective Technical Product Manager
1. ed
ISBN: 978-1-4842-3303-0
Verlag: Apress
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 179 Seiten

Gain all of the techniques, teachings, tools, and methodologies required to be an effective first-time product manager. The overarching goal of this book is to help you understand the product manager role, give you concrete examples of what a product manager does, and build the foundational skill-set that will gear you towards a career in product management.  To be an effective PM in the tech industry, you need to have a basic understanding of technology. In this book you'll get your feet wet by exploring the skills a PM needs in their toolset and cover enough ground to make you feel comfortable in a technical discussion. A PM is not expected to have the same level of depth or knowledge as a software engineer, but knowing enough to continue the conversation can be a benefit in your career in product management.
A complete product manager will have a 360-degree understanding of user experience and how to craft beautiful products that are easy-to-use, with the end user in mind. You'll continue your journey with a walk through basic UX principles and even go through the process of building a simple set of UI frames for a mock app. 
Aside from the technical and design expertise, a PM needs to master the social aspects of the role. Acting as a bridge between engineering, marketing, and other teams can be difficult, and this book will dive into the business and soft skills of product management. After reading Product Management Essentials you will be one of a select few technically-capable PMs who can interface with management, stakeholders, customers, and the engineering team.
What You Will LearnGain the traits of a successful PM from industry PMs, VCs, and other professionals
See the day-to-day responsibilities of a PM and how the role differs across tech companies
Absorb the technical knowledge necessary to interface with engineers and estimate timelines
Design basic mocks, high-fidelity wireframes, and fully polished user interfaces
Create core documents and handle business interactionsWho This Book Is For
Individuals who are eyeing a transition into a PM role or have just entered a PM role at a new organization for the first time. They currently hold positions as a software engineer, marketing manager, UX designer, or data analyst and want to move away from a feature-focused view to a high-level strategic view of the product vision.


Aswin Pranam is a product manager, ex-software engineer, and avid technologist. Prior to his current role as a senior product manager in a venture group, Aswin spent time working in technical roles at Google, Boeing, Disney, and IBM. Aswin has a Bachelor of Science in Informatics (HCI) from the University of Washington, a Master of Science in Information Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. In his free time, Aswin is the founder of elixirlabs.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to building technical infrastructure for NGOs and resource-constrained organizations. To get in touch, please send an email to [e-mail].

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pranam, Aswin

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;5
2;About the Author;15
3;About the Technical Reviewer;16
4;Disclaimer;17
5;Foreword: Product Management Essentials;18
6;Acknowledgments;19
7;Introduction;20
8;Part I: Introduction: Getting Started;21
8.1;Chapter 1: Introduction;22
8.1.1;What are the learning goals for this book?;23
8.1.1.1;Technical Foundations;23
8.1.1.2;Design Foundations;23
8.1.1.3;Product / Business Strategy Foundations;24
8.1.1.4;Small Steps to Mastery;24
8.1.2;What the %&!# is product management?;24
8.1.3;Project vs. program vs. product management;27
8.1.4;The big fundamentals;27
8.2;Chapter 2: Guiding Principles;29
8.2.1;Kill your ego;29
8.2.2;You’re not the expert;30
8.2.3;Make decisions;30
8.2.4;Become comfortable with ambiguity;30
8.2.5;Ask the right questions;30
8.3;Chapter 3: The End-to-End Product Journey;31
8.3.1;Step 1: Ideation;32
8.3.2;Step 2: Create a product requirements document (PRD);32
8.3.3;Step 3: Assemble the right team;32
8.3.4;Step 4: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP);33
8.3.5;Step 5: Establish product-market fit;33
8.3.6;Step 6: Don’t discount design;34
8.3.7;Step 7: Source feedback;34
8.3.8;Step 8: Obsess over metrics;35
8.3.9;Step 9: Win or Learn;35
8.4;Chapter 4: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Umesh Unnikrishnan;36
8.4.1;What does the term “product manager” mean to you?;36
8.4.2;What interested you initially about product management?;36
8.4.3;How do you deal with failure as a PM?;36
8.4.4;What tools help make your life easier as a PM?;37
8.4.5;How is product management different between enterprise and consumer products?;37
9;Part II: Technical Foundations;38
9.1;Chapter 5: Understand the software stack;39
9.1.1;Why cover web instead of other technologies?;39
9.1.2;The question;39
9.1.2.1;Step 1: www.amazon.com is typed into the web browser;40
9.1.2.2;Step 2: DNS (Domain Name Server / System);40
9.1.2.3;Step 3: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol);42
9.1.2.4;Step 4: HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol);42
9.1.2.5;Optional Step 5: Load balancing;43
9.1.2.6;Optional Step 6: CDNs (Content Delivery Network);43
9.1.2.7;Step 7: Web server response;43
9.1.2.8;Step 8: Browser generates content;44
9.1.3;Software Engineering: Through the lens;44
9.1.4;The web stack;44
9.1.4.1;Front end vs. Back end;45
9.1.4.2;Getting started with front-end development;46
9.1.4.3;HTML (Hypertext Markup Language);46
9.1.4.4;Tags, tags, and more tags;47
9.1.4.5;CSS (Cascading Style Sheets);50
9.1.4.6;JavaScript;51
9.1.5;Additional Resources;52
9.1.6;Final Thoughts;53
9.2;Chapter 6: SQL Quickstart;54
9.2.1;CREATE, DELETE, and SHOW database;55
9.2.2;SELECT statements;55
9.2.3;SELECT statements with conditions;57
9.2.4;UPDATE table with new data;58
9.2.5;DELETE table rows;59
9.2.6;ORDER BY;59
9.2.7;JOINS;60
9.2.7.1;LEFT JOIN (also called LEFT OUTER JOIN);61
9.2.7.2;RIGHT JOIN (also called RIGHT OUTER JOIN);61
9.2.7.3;INNER JOIN;62
9.2.7.4;OUTER JOIN (also called FULL OUTER JOIN);63
9.2.8;Advanced topics;63
9.2.9;Informative…but why is this useful to me as a PM?;64
9.3;Chapter 7: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Vivek Bhupatiraju;65
9.3.1;What does the term product manager mean to you?;65
9.3.2;Can you break down a “day-in-the-life” of a TUNE PM?;65
9.3.3;What interested you initially about product management?;66
9.3.4;How do you deal with failure as a PM?;66
9.3.5;What emerging technologies excite you most for the next five years?;66
9.3.6;How do you avoid burnout and keep a healthy balance between work and personal life?;66
9.3.7;What tools make your life easier as a PM?;67
9.3.8;What advice do you have for readers who want to get into product but have no prior experience?;67
9.4;Chapter 8: Analytics are everything;68
9.4.1;Analytics vs. Metrics;68
9.4.2;Selecting metrics for measurement;69
9.4.3;Types of metrics;69
9.4.4;Metrics that matter;70
9.4.5;A/B Testing;71
9.4.6;Multivariate testing;72
9.4.7;Analytics: Through the lens;73
9.4.8;Drilling Deep with Google Analytics;74
9.4.8.1;Google Analytics: Advantages;76
9.4.8.2;Google Analytics: Disadvantages;77
9.4.9;Conclusion;77
9.5;Chapter 9: Software Development Methodologies;78
9.5.1;What is waterfall?;79
9.5.1.1;Advantages of waterfall;79
9.5.1.2;Disadvantages of waterfall;80
9.5.2;Agile;80
9.5.3;Scrum;81
9.5.3.1;Structure;82
9.5.3.2;Roles / Artifacts;83
9.5.3.3;User Stories;84
9.5.3.4;Scrum Meetings;84
9.5.3.5;Work estimation;85
9.5.3.6;Advantages of Scrum;86
9.5.3.7;Disadvantages of Scrum;87
9.5.4;Do I need to religiously follow this framework?;87
9.5.5;Final Thoughts;87
9.6;Chapter 10: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Sean Ammirati;88
9.6.1;What does the term “product manager” mean to you?;88
9.6.2;What is one thing that PMs can do immediately that will improve the way they build world-class products?;88
9.6.3;As a venture capitalist, how do you gauge product vision when investing in seed-stage startups?;88
9.6.4;What present technology trend (VR, ML/AI, cryptocurrencies) are you bullish on for the next decade?;89
9.6.5;What advice do you have for a nontechnical founder who wants to raise money and build a tech startup?;89
9.7;Chapter 11: Deconstructing System Design;90
9.7.1;Probing;91
9.7.2;Identify pain points;91
9.7.3;Think about requirements;92
9.7.4;Understand the market;92
9.7.5;Arrive at a solution;93
9.7.6;Design a URL shortening service (bit.ly or TinyURL);94
9.7.6.1;Background;94
9.7.7;Probing;94
9.7.8;High-level design;95
9.7.9;Additional Questions;96
10;Part III: Design Foundations;97
10.1;Chapter 12: Mindful UX;98
10.1.1;User Experience (UX) vs. User Interface (UI) design;98
10.1.1.1;UX principles to live by;99
10.1.1.2;Affordance;99
10.1.2;UX Research Techniques;100
10.1.2.1;Personas;100
10.1.2.2;Diary study;101
10.1.2.3;Surveys;101
10.1.2.4;Additional UX research and information gathering methods;101
10.1.3;Accessibility;102
10.1.4;Bad UX examples;102
10.1.5;Conclusion;102
10.2;Chapter 13: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Leslie Shelton;103
10.2.1;What does the term “product manager” mean to you?;103
10.2.2;What is the best way to rebound from failure as a PM?;104
10.2.3;How has your background contributed to your success as a PM?;104
10.2.4;How would you go about hiring product managers on your team? Any specific skills that you’d look for?;104
10.2.5;Can you give us an example of one of your favorite products and why?;105
10.2.6;What’s your approach for defining a long-term product strategy?;105
10.2.7;How do you coordinate the balance between product and engineering?;105
10.3;Chapter 14: Rapid Prototyping;106
10.3.1;What is rapid prototyping?;106
10.3.2;Why should we create prototypes?;107
10.3.3;Low-fidelity vs. high-fidelity vs. mocks vs. interactive prototypes;107
10.3.4;High-fidelity UI development with Balsamiq;108
10.3.5;Developing UI mocks with Sketch;115
10.3.5.1;Example #1: Login screens UI kit;131
10.3.5.2;Example #2: Analytics dashboard UI kit;132
10.3.6;Conclusion;132
10.4;Chapter 15: The Good, The Bad, and The Unusable;133
10.4.1;The Good;134
10.4.1.1;The Bradley Timepiece;134
10.4.1.1.1;What’s so special about it?;135
10.4.1.1.2;Key takeaway;135
10.4.1.2;Early prototype vehicle - Waymo;135
10.4.1.2.1;What’s so special about it?;136
10.4.1.2.2;Key takeaway;137
10.4.1.3;Square Cash app;137
10.4.1.3.1;What’s so special about it?;140
10.4.1.3.2;Key takeaway;141
10.4.2;The Bad;141
10.4.2.1;Hotel shower handle (Wroclaw, Poland);141
10.4.2.1.1;What ruined the user experience?;143
10.4.2.1.2;Key Takeaway;144
10.4.2.2;Confusing street signs;144
10.4.2.2.1;What ruins the user experience?;145
10.4.2.2.2;Key Takeaway;145
10.4.3;The Unusable;145
10.4.3.1;(Bad) Digital Advertising;145
10.4.3.2;How can we do better?;146
10.5;Chapter 16: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Daniel Csonth;147
10.5.1;What does the term product manager mean to you?;147
10.5.2;What are some of the hardest challenges to overcome as a product manager?;147
10.5.3;How do you know if a product is well designed?;148
10.5.4;What metrics do you use to track product success?;148
10.5.5;How will the practice of building products change in the next 5–10 years?;149
10.5.6;Tell me about a product you stopped using because it failed to meet your needs / solve a problem;149
10.5.7;What is your vision for the future? Where do you think technology will take us?;150
11;Part IV: Business & Management Foundations;151
11.1;Chapter 17: Playing the part;152
11.1.1;Leading without authority;153
11.1.1.1;Tips to lead effectively;154
11.1.1.2;Learn to communicate ideas;154
11.1.2;Communication: Upper Management;154
11.1.3;Communication: Users;155
11.1.4;Communication: Team Members;156
11.1.5;The Art of Negotiation;157
11.1.6;Personal Development;157
11.1.7;Conclusion;158
11.2;Chapter 18: Product Strategy;159
11.2.1;Forecasting the unknown;159
11.2.2;Budgeting & Estimation;160
11.2.3;Vendor management;160
11.2.4;Studying the competition;161
11.2.5;Marketing 101;162
11.2.5.1;The 4 Ps;162
11.2.5.2;Go-to-market strategy;163
11.2.6;Product Requirements Document (PRD);164
11.2.7;Product Roadmap;165
11.2.8;Conclusion;165
11.3;Chapter 19: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Amelia Crook;166
11.3.1;What does the term “product manager” mean to you?;166
11.3.2;What’s the best piece of advice you have for new product managers?;166
11.3.3;What misconception do people generally have about the product manager role?;166
11.3.4;What’s your favorite interview question for a product manager?;167
11.3.5;Describe your process for prioritizing requirements;167
11.3.6;What’s the best way to validate an idea with users before moving forward with development?;167
11.4;Chapter 20: Crossing the finish line;168
11.4.1;Abandon Fear;168
11.4.2;Think like Spock, lead like Kirk;168
11.4.3;Don’t ask permission, just ask forgiveness;169
11.4.4;Don’t always rely on “best practices”;169
11.4.5;Embrace exponential thinking;169
11.4.6;Dealing with failure;169
11.4.7;Never underestimate the power of luck;169
11.4.8;10 Q’s;170
11.4.8.1;How do I hire a product manager?;170
11.4.8.2;What if the organization I join doesn’t understand the product role?;170
11.4.8.3;What if I have a limited budget for product development and engineering?;170
11.4.8.4;What if I’m not respected?;170
11.4.8.5;What can I start doing today to flex my product management muscles?;170
11.4.8.6;Is an MBA required to be a product manager?;171
11.4.8.7;What are the growth opportunities for a product manager?;171
11.4.8.8;Join a startup as PM #1 or an established company as PM #1000?;171
11.4.8.9;Is it detrimental to my career to join a product team at a non-tech company?;171
11.4.8.10;I’ve heard PMs work 80-100 hour weeks. How do I avoid this?;172
11.4.9;Additional Resources;172
11.4.10;A call to action;172
11.4.11;Commencement;173
11.5;Chapter 21: Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Romy Macasieb;174
11.5.1;What does the term “product manager” mean to you?;174
11.5.2;How does the role of product manager differ between a startup and an established firm?;174
11.5.3;How has your role changed as you’ve gone up the ranks to VP of Product? Can you describe your day-to-day?;175
11.5.4;What is your biggest fear as a PM?;175
11.5.5;What is an underrated skill or quality of a world-class PM?;175
11.5.6;What’s your approach for crafting a product requirements document (PRD)?;175
12;Index;176