Virtual Chit-Chat with Vibhu Mahajan — Senior Product Manager at Carta
I had the privilege of talking to Vibhu Mahajan who is a mid-career Product Manager working in the FinTech industry. Vibhu has a passion to develop tax and regulatory solutions for her customers, through process automation, transparent reporting and effective user experiences. The below account is a recap of the discussion we had on what she perceives as a role of a Product Manager and what skills helps her to be successful at it.
Introduction
Vibhu started off her career in the oil & gas industry as a Finance person — Production Accountant and worked with some big names in Calgary; publicly traded companies as well as a regulatory authority. In 2013 Vibhu did a career pivot and switched over to the Tech industry and since then have worked with some of the fastest growing Tech companies in Calgary namely Benevity, Shareworks (by Morgan Stanley), Solium and P2 Energy Solutions. Vibhu is currently working for a Bay Area FinTech unicorn ‘Carta’ as a senior Product Manager developing tax & regulatory compliance/reporting products for her clients.
Why the switch from oil & gas to Tech?
My first question to her was, why the switch from oil & gas industry to Tech and her very candid reply was that she was fed-up of the uncertainty in the oil patch and the constant sense of insecurity that prevailed over all employees due to the swings in the oil prices due to the complex geo-political situations around the world. In comparison, she finds the Tech industry to be a very stable and advancing at a rapid pace.
Current Projects?
When asked what are the projects that she is currently working on, Vibhu explained that she develops advanced features based on her customer’s needs (and feedback) in the SaaS applications (Cloud-based equity management solutions) that Carta offers to its customers. Vibhu being a senior Product Manager has usually 3–4 products ongoing at the same time. Most of her projects (new features) are timed to be launched by Q4 in time for the customers to get comfortable with it before the tax season hits.
Stakeholder engagement and feedback?
Carta has a customer feedback feature set up in the SaaS applications which collects and addresses the issues raised by the end users. Based on the tickets submitted by the users, the queries are categorized, analyzed and interpreted by the tech teams into dashboards for all the teams to have visibility of the feedback data. These data-backed indicators are used to decide on (for example) which features to work on to improve user experience. Or to decide on which advanced features to add on to address customers’ needs for a specific requirement.
Typical career path and how does the duties change over time?
Vibhu brought up a great point that one cannot simply become a product manager in a very short span of time or after completing a certain few weeks long certification. One has to develop over time, understanding each supporting role and gradually transition into the role of a product manager. Vibhu did bring up that she was practically doing all the work of a product manager for quite a few months before she was given the position of a product manager itself.
Vibhu started off as the Business analyst working with internal and external teams to determine business requirements for the software features for the customers. There was a lot of ground work being done on her part by coordinating meetings, conducting surveys, communicating directly with the end-users, documenting the software features and field testing of the applications. When transitioning to the Product Manager role, she was looking at the bigger picture and prioritizing which features to adapt to first and the roadmap to their completion. As a Product Manager she was assuring aligning to the OKRs of the company overall instead of just focused on a single product launch.
For advice on how to transition to this position, Vibhu did recommend to start of in one of the supporting roles like a customer success agent or a business analyst to start grasping the practical side of things before transitioning into the product manager role.
Skills, abilities and personal attributes to be a successful product manager?
On the question of what is needed to be successful product manager, Vibhu described it as more of an ‘Art than a science’. Just like LeMay mentioned in his book Product Management in Practice, Vibhu agreed that the basic skills of Communication, Organization, Research and Execution are the core building blocks of the tool’s chest for a product manager. But the ‘Art’ part comes in with what ratio to have a mix of these in a particular organization. Every company (and every team for that matter) is set up different with its own unique culture and set of norms. The key is to find the right ratio of this qualities mix.
What do you like least /most about your job?
On the question of being the least favorite thing in this role, Vibhu promptly responded that the concurrent features that the development teams are developing at times cause issues for the other features being developed. Vibhu has had the tough experience on multiple occasions where the development teams implemented a change without checking its impact on the features that she manages or were currently developing. These disruptions had caused delays in the timeline for the product launch as well as additional work on her team’s part to find a remedy for the issue. To her, this is the breakdown of communication between the Development teams and the product managers resulting in unnecessary disruptions for some products. Another issue that Vibhu has come across are conflicting requirements by the involved stakeholders about a certain feature to be added to the SaaS suite. At times, she had to do a fair bit of research to gather the required data to prove her point about data not supporting the assumption for the need of a certain aspect of the new feature to be launched. These discussions are not easy and takes some time and persistence before being accepted but from her point of view very critical for the success of the product.
After the successful launch of a new product followed by the positive feedback by the customers is one the happy times for Vibhu. The vigilant planning and tenacious hard work put in over the period of the product development finally pays off in the shape of happy and satisfied customers.
Recommendations for new Product Managers?
Vibhu emphasized on the importance of networking and how the collaborative interaction with other Product Managers helps you develop and further enhance your skills as a product manager. These platforms not only help you with building mutually beneficial professional relationships but also keeps you updated about any opportunities that are open (or will be open in future).
Vibhu herself has been a very active contributor in volunteering for professional community of product managers. Vibhu currently holds the position of Director, Communications and Marketing with Product Calgary (a forum of product managers in Calgary).
References
LeMay, M. (2018). Product management in practice: A real-world guide to the key connective role of the 21st Century. O’Reilly.
