A Day in the Life of a Product Manager

We recently caught up with Bright Network member, Shantelle, to chat about how her career is going. Shantelle has been working as a product manager and told us about her personal experience of what a day in the life of a product manager is really like. Read on to learn what a product manager does and whether it’s the career path for you.

What does a product manager do?

Product managers are responsible for the generation and creation of a product which will have a positive impact on its customers. As such, they work with the product all the way until its release being its advocate, always lobbying for improvement and ensuring it’s at its best. It’s Shantelle’s job to work with a large number of teams, from the finance department to the designers to the marketers to produce the best product which will have the most impact. Product managers can work on a range of products, including software and financial products like credit cards.

We started by asking Shantelle to reflect on working as a product manager.

Is there a task or project that you’ve worked on that has stood out to you?

Alongside my role, I'm interested in blockchain solutions and in particular building applications on-chain. With the rise of NFTs in 2021, web3 has become a little more popular. However, there's still a long way to go! I'm excited to be advising the company’s innovation arm, on all things crypto as we explore this area.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting?

Every product manager is different. As you progress you learn so much and this will change your perspective on things. The vision for your product will change as you keep building, but that's just the agile way.

The working conditions of a product manager

Since product managers can work with a wide range of different product types, the conditions can vary significantly. For example, working for a toy manufacturer would have a very different working environment to an AI company. As a toy manufacturer, you might have to do some off-site checks for the production and distribution side of it which is not needed for AI. Generally, being a product manager won’t involve too much travel and is mostly office-based work requiring good communication with different department and companies.

We asked Shantelle about what it’s like working as a product manager.

What has been the highlight of working as a product manager?

Being given the responsibility of managing a team so early on in my product career. I think it's important to work for a company that values you and your abilities. Despite only pivoting into to tech 6 months ago, I have been given the chance to prove myself.

What’s one thing you didn’t expect?

I didn't expect all of the meetings! In my last role as a mechanical engineer, I didn't have many meetings! It makes sense when you think about is as product managers have to know their products inside and out.

A typical day in the life of a product manager

Being a product manager can sometimes involve working beyond the standard office hours of 9am to 5pm. This is particularly relevant around big deadlines, for example when releasing the product. Learning how to maintain a good work-life balance can be important around these times.

We asked Shantelle to take us through what a typical day in the life of a product manager is like, from the tasks she completes to the meetings she has.

What do you do throughout the day?

I start the day with my team's standup, in this short 15-minute meeting we get up to speed on what we've all be working on and can identify any blockers. Throughout the day I'll have various meetings with a range of internal stakeholders, designers to finalise the UI that is to be built into the Customer Portal, meetings with the team to sign off on tickets that have been built and tested and cross-functional strategy discussions. I try to spend the afternoons researching into product requests and ticking things off my to-do list.

What are the main tasks in your job?

Owning the product roadmap for the cross vertical front-end team

Working with the Tech lead to prioritise features and the tech & product backlog

Drive customer experience by championing the customer through research

Coordinating product launches with key internal stakeholders to ensure commercial success

How you could become a product manager

Being a product manager requires having some skills and experience. Generally, you’ll need an undergraduate degree to be a product manager. Whilst you could follow the business or finance route, having a technical degree like computer science will help if you’re interested in managing software and AI products. Being great at planning and organising you time is very important for product managers so you can make sure the product is following the set timeline.

We asked Shantelle for her advice on how you can break into the product management profession.

What top tips would you give Bright Network members wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Be Brave - Don't be afraid to know the least in the room, there's strength in that! Value the difference in perspective as that will help you to be a better product manager.

Network - There's so much to learn from just talking to people, don't be afraid to reach out.

Believe in yourself - as a mentor, I commonly see that a lack of confidence holds people back from applying for jobs that they have the skills for.

Have you been inspired by Shantelle? Are you considering working life as a product manager? Explore the current jobs in the consumer, FMCG and retail sector and read our product manager job profile to learn the facts behind the job.