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Devika Nair

AMA: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product Management, Devika Nair on Technical Product Management

July 20 @ 10:00AM PST
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Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product Management, Devika Nair on Technical Product Management
Top Questions
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
Two constant challenges for me in any product role has been finding the right way to say no. This could be to your customers asking for a particular feature or your organization that has decided to prioritize certain aspects differently.  The best way to overcome this challenge is by having your......Read More
986 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
It is rare to have a technical product manager and another product manager working on the same product. When this happens, it is usually in organizations where one of the product managers work in a more inbound or engineering facing role and the other in a more outbound and customer facing role. ......Read More
398 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
This depends on the goals of your product. In general, you want your key metrics to be aligned with what you and the organization considers the top goals of the product.  For example, this might be revenue from your product, or number of other products customers use alongside your product. There......Read More
747 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
For Product Management, my general advice is to experiment with it. Try to understand your customers and market, define the product vision and work through requirements for your features. You can also go through exercises with side projects. For Project Management, I don't have personal experien......Read More
736 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
The first step to building the vision for a product or program is to ensure you have a clear understanding of the organizational goals and how your product or program fits into it. Second, have a good understanding of the market and customer.  To me the most important piece when I am building ......Read More
419 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
To me, success of my product managers is measured based on their understanding of the product, ability to deal with partners, customers and executives and influence others. The way I would measure the same is based on their vision and roadmap documents. The product intuition can be judged from th......Read More
563 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
If you are already working in an organization with an opportunity for such a role, that is the easiest way to transition. If not, look at how your current strengths can be used in the new role.  In general, you want to show potential employers that you aren't new to all aspects of the job. For e......Read More
694 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 20
That depends on the organization. I've found that it differs based on the organization, and the impact you make on the projects. Certain organizations and leaders give more authority and control to TPMs vs EMs.  That said, EMs usually have authority over the people on their team while Program an......Read More
664 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
Yes. If you are willing to transition, its simplest if there is a role in your organization. I am assuming this question was about TPM = Program Managers rather than product managers.  If the question was about tech product managers, the focus should be on understanding the product and customers......Read More
689 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
I would not say I had a single point where I made this decision. I had the opportunity to lead a few PMs which I initially picked. I transitioned back to IC from this role a couple of times based on my interest in the product goals. My final (or I should say current since I could transition back ......Read More
857 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 20
I've usually found that it is best to start with organizational priorities, and map the projects to the same. I've usually not been a proponent of prioritization frameworks, though I've found plenty of PMs including members of my team who find them helpful. I just don't find a one size fits all w......Read More
731 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
The biggest challenge for any tech product manager (or program manager) will remain your ability to influence. You need to influence members at all levels of the organization on whom you have little authority.  The way to overcome this is ensuring your have a clear understanding of why your work......Read More
331 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
I don't think I've had a single surprise across my various tech product management roles.  In general, I would say my most surprising aspects when I moved to a product role has been the amount of work that goes into non-engineering aspects. For example, how much influence marketing or finance ca......Read More
732 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
If you mean technical product manager vs product manager, that depends on your technical expertise and interest towards technical products. If you mean program vs product, I don't have program manager experience. I'm only basing my response on my observations. I would say a PM cares more about e......Read More
470 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
The best tech product managers I know have a very good understanding of their product. This includes understanding the customer needs and market. They use this knowledge to make quick, but data backed decisions about the product direction.  They are also able to influence and bring along a wide ......Read More
729 Views
1 request
How can a TPM be helpful if they are not the most technically advanced person on the team?
Does the TPM need to theoretically be able to do/know how to do everything the engineers are doing (but they just aren't actually do it)? Some examples will be nice!
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
In my opinion, you can be successful in any role by not having the expertise if you recognize it and are willing to learn. The product manager is generally not the most technically advanced person on the team, but they bring in other expertise and experience to the team (e.g., customer data, mark......Read More
465 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
First, ensure you have the right data to backup any claims or decisions you want to make. Second, focus on the goals you want from that audience. Third is to make sure that the content is clear and crisp with the right level of detail. Occasionally, I have to re-write a document for a different ......Read More
1030 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
If your question was about Tech Product Management, it is a solid understanding of the product vision and direction. A tech PM is able to be the voice of the customer in front of engineering or the voice of engineering in front of marketing.  They are able to represent the best interest for the ......Read More
747 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
To me, the best part of being a Product Manager is that there is no typical day. There is a mix of working with your engineering partners, talking to customers, partnering with other organizations, and sharing info with executives or dealing with escalations. A day to day also differs greatly dep......Read More
339 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 20
In general, you need technical product managers when the PMs need a deep technical understanding. In most cases, this is because the customers of your product are technical.  PMs who aren't technical will be unable to effectively manage a product whose customers are technical folks like develo......Read More
707 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
Good judgement or product instinct. Product Managers should make quick decisions with the available data. Product Managers should be able to distinguish between the asks and the true needs. In order to build a successful product, you need a good understanding of the market, the customer and poten......Read More
715 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
PMs in most technical organizations work with technical teams, so the difference really stems from the customers of your product. Technical PMs typically work on technical products. Typically, your customers are a technical audience (e.g., developers) and you need to have the tech skills to commu......Read More
689 Views
1 request
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 19
My approach is usually to have a initial wireframe to convey your ideas. The UX team needs to have sufficient understanding of the customer journeys and need to be involved early in the product definition/creation phase. Start with your vision document and a wireframe and spend some time discussi......Read More
872 Views
1 request