Feature Prioritization 101

Feature Prioritization 101One of the most important responsibilities of a product manager is feature prioritization. What is feature prioritization? Our last post covered story prioritization using sizing and estimation – in this post we’ll zoom back out to the product roadmap, and start with the company itself.

Feature prioritization is planning out the order of features your team works on, based on your product roadmap. It’s important to prioritize features because you have limited time and money and too many potential features. Sitting down and figuring out which features to work on and at what point of your schedule is absolutely necessary to prevent delays and a poorly executed product.

There are many ways to approach feature prioritization, but regardless of approach, keep this piece of advice in mind: Product managers should prioritize features based on the overall product strategy. In other words, don’t lose sight of the goal! If your product is meant to solve the problem of providing online educational opportunities to low-income students, it makes sense that all features you vet should match that product strategy. Continue Reading

Agile Estimation: Sizing Stories

Agile Estimation - Sizing Stories

The project has been funded, the team is assembled, and as PM you’ve written out feature stories based on your product roadmap. Now it’s time to talk specifics and figure out the amount of effort each story will take – will the team be able to complete everything in the given time frame?

In agile development, an estimate is a unit of measurement of the effort required to complete a user story. Estimation is important because it enables the PM (and the entire team) to figure out which stories to prioritize for the iteration and whether these stories can be feasibly completed within the span of that iteration.

Typically estimation happens collaboratively as a team, and the functions that work on a specific story give the sizing estimates for that story. Collaborative estimation helps ensure that teammates have a say in the process and are committed to completing stories on time. It also uncovers potential issues, unforeseen dependencies, and even possible shortcuts, since these estimations encourage open discussion. Continue Reading

PMs & Metrics: Conversion Rate

PM Metrics - Conversion Rate

As a PM, what are some important metrics to measure for your product? In each post of this series we’ll be covering a different metric, why this particular metric is important, and how it’s measured.

If you’re a PM of a website, a product that’s sold on a website, or an app, one of the most important metrics to measure is the conversion rate. Simply put, the conversion rate is the percentage of all visitors or users who take a desired action.

“Conversion rate is the percentage of all visitors or users who take a desired action.”

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 One of the most common examples is the percentage of visitors who end up purchasing on a website.

Why is conversion rate such an important metric, not just for PMs but for the company as a whole? A solid conversion rate is indicative of a good user experience and means that the company is efficiently capturing sales. It’s the barometer of all the efforts spent to optimize the user experience through user research, A/B testing, interviews, etc. In other words, the conversion rate quantifies and validates whether the team’s efforts to improve that page or product has been successful. A higher conversion rate after a page redesign, all else equal, typically means that the redesign had a direct role in having more customers purchase the product. Continue Reading

Product Manager vs. Product Marketing Manager: What’s the Difference?

Product Manager vs Product Marketing Manager

What’s the difference between a product manager (PM) and a product marketing manager (PMM)?

After all, both are responsible for product launches of customer-facing products, whether it’s a physical entity or virtual software. Both need to coordinate different groups within a company to ensure that the product release is successful.

So, what separates the two roles from one another?

The simplest way to describe the difference is: Product managers are responsible for leading the creation of a product, and product marketing managers are responsible for leading the go-to-market (GTM) for that product.

Let’s dive deeper into the responsibilities of the two roles.

Product Manager

A product manager is responsible for performing the following duties: Continue Reading

Does a Product Manager Need an MBA?

Does a Product Manager Need an MBA?

Another age-old question in product management circles is whether PMs should have MBAs. At least today, an MBA can be a double-edged sword when it comes to recruiting for product management roles. In some cases, having an MBA can count against you, especially at startups where technical experience is valued more. In other cases,  companies with teams that have more of a business focus may look specifically for MBAs.

For the majority of cases, an MBA is not a hard requirement for a product manager. There are many product managers that excel at what they do without an MBA background, and there are many more important qualities that PMs should have and continue to develop. However, this post will focus on the potential benefits of an MBA, as well as action steps an aspiring PM can take in business school to make the best use of time and experience. Continue Reading

Product Manager Interview: The Favorite Product Question

Product Manager Interview - Favorite Product Question

*Updated: May 2019*

One commonly asked question during product manager interviews is:

“What’s your favorite product and why?”

At first glance, it seems like a harmless question and oftentimes feels like the interviewer is just trying to make casual small talk.

However, don’t take this question too lightly; an interviewer may genuinely be curious about the types of products you enjoy using, but may also be using this question to understand how you think about products and get a sense of your standards for amazing products.

When approaching this question, you don’t need to follow a specific structure but we recommend using this answer framework:

1) What is the product and what does it do? Continue Reading