Sandhya Rao

I am going to answer this with reference to few real-world examples that I have seen including my own. These are folks who begun their careers in a non-tech set ups and made it to the tech-world as Product people. I am also tweaking the question a bit to answer - 'What are the key attributes or habits that could help you break into a tech industry as a product manager?' Here, are 3 key attributes that can help - Curiosity or a relentless pursuit to understand the 'why' behind everything is a key ...Read More

"Tell me more about your experience in building a product and your contributions to it. And tell me as you look back now, what are the things that you would do differently or would not do differently and why". As a Leader, the virtue that I value the most is continuous learning and the ability to reflect or introspect on growth and opportunities to improvise. Most often this question leads the person to share variety of ways work getting more effective across all areas of People skills, Process ...Read More

The way quality overrides quantity in feedback collation, similarly, the technique employed takes precedence over the procedural aspects in gathering insights on CSAT. I try to ensure that we apply variety of approaches to gain wider understanding of product usage, feature adoption, customer sentiments and loyalty when working on the product roadmap. Each approach leads to learnings that can be incorporated in that respective function of product roadmap, while following a systematic processes to ...Read More

In one of my early interviews with a potential candidate, I asked the person what he thought makes a good product manager. I believe his reply aptly summarizes a key attribute to become a successful Product Manager irrespective of the sector, type or geography, and I quote, "a good Product Manager knows all that he does not know". For a PM, hard skills include core product management skills like roadmapping, prioritization, forecasting and measurment, user story telling and effective idea presen ...Read More

My approach is simple - Connect. When pursuing new opportunities, I meticulously gauge insights into a company’s culture - its people, processes and purpose. I wait till I feel connected with the company at each of these 3 levels. Here’s how - Purpose: I dig deeper into the company’s narrative across various channels, at both the formal and informal levels, and I try to find evidences of the company’s commitment to its values and mission. A company’s authenticity can be screened through the prod ...Read More