Getting into product management was never easy before. There was no university degree, no formal promotion track or even internship programs. Luckily, a lot has changed since and now becoming a product manager is easier than ever.
However, now there is an even easier way to learn product management for free, without leaving your home. Yes, this is another article on how ChatGPT changes everything.
Everyone who is even slightly interested in technology played around with the new wave of generative AIs. People use ChatGPT and alike to get their jobs done faster, have fun and learn. And learning is where this tech shines the most.
From zero to junior PM using ChatGPT
Let's imagine you want to become a product manager. You don't have a technical background but you're comfortable around computers and familiar with business fundamentals. How can you use generative AI such as ChatGPT to land your first job as a product manager?What is product management?
First and foremost, research the role itself. ChatGPT can help you understand what product managers do, what are pluses and minuses of this vocation so you can decide if you want to become a PM. You can use the following prompts to ask the AI:- What is product management?
- What do product managers do?
- Describe a day in a product manager's life
- How do product managers work with other departments?
- What are the responsibilities of a product manager?
- How product managers are evaluated?
- What do product managers hate about their job?
- How much do product managers make?
- What is a typical progression path for a product manager?
- How many product manager vacancies are currently open?
Craft your own learning path to become a PM
If you decide product management is what you want to do - create a plan to learn the basics of the profession that will help you to land your first PM job. Below is my suggestion for a learning path that could make virtually anyone into a junior PM or PO.Product discovery
To create successful products you first need to select the right problems to solve. Product discovery is a process of asking vital questions before deciding to build a product:- Why should we do it?
- Who is it for?
- What problems does it solve?
- What is in it for us?
The main learnings in this area include:
- Defining product vision and strategy
- Conducting user and market research
- Positioning your future product and communicating its value
Product Delivery
Having a good understanding of the problems you want to solve and your target audience - it's time to dive into the solutions space. This phase is all about collaboration with the wider product team to deliver the best possible product to your customers. The most important questions to answer at this stage are:- What should it be? (scope, capabilities, features, USPs)
- Should we build it, buy it or partner with it?
- How should we build it? (iterations, releases)
- What should be the user experience?
The main learnings in this area include:
- Creating a product backlog
- Prioritising work
- Planning iterations
- Establishing feedback loops
- Tracking the progress
- Preparing for launch
- Controlling quality and managing expectations
Product Growth
Having your product out in the wild is super exciting but often it's when the hardest work begins. You need to manage customers' and stakeholders' feedback, improve your business bottom line, acquire new customers, and support existing ones all at the same time. At the growth stage, you'd be often asked:- How is the product doing? (KPIs, metrics, customers knowledge)
- What is next for product development? (updates, new releases, roadmap)
- How can we provide more value for customers and the business?
The main learnings in this area include:
- Product tracking and analytics
- Pricing and marketing strategies
- Growth hacking and partnerships
- Pivoting and sunsetting the product
It's a lot to learn so I'll be describing each stage in a separate blog post every two weeks for the next couple of months. I'll provide suggestions for the generative AI prompts that you could use immediately to learn about a given topic. Later, I'll provide some ideas on how to bring all this knowledge together to practice being a PM before you even apply for a job. Lastly, we'll review how ChatGPT and alike can help you craft your product manager CV, prepare for the interview and land this dream PM job. Stay tuned to www.test-n-tell.com and you can use the tag 'becomePMwithChatGPT' to find all the posts on this subject.
Here's a preview of what you can expect to find in the upcoming posts.
Learn the basics of product management
Before learning more about the profession you need to familiarise yourself with the principal responsibilities and activities of this role. You can use the following prompts with ChatGPT or similar generative AI:- What skills do product managers need to have to be successful at their job?
- What are the main activities of a product manager?
- Describe a digital product lifecycle
- What are the product manager's responsibilities at every stage of a digital product lifecycle?
- What outputs are expected from a product manager at every stage of product development?
- What are the top learning resources for product managers?
- Who are the prominent product managers of our times?