Tatiana Mahankal’s Post

**My top 3 learnings on Product Discovery from week 2 of our PM cohort at Product Space** 🚀 Previously, when using an app 📱, my focus was primarily on navigating its features to search for items or complete a task. However, after completing my learning ✍ in Product Discovery, my approach has shifted. I now analyze the product and its features more critically, considering how they serve the user, what improvements can be made, and how customers perceive the product. 👉 Product discovery is all about understanding what your users need and validating potential🏗️solutions before you actually build anything. 👉 It's a crucial step in making sure you're developing a product that people will actually want and use. 👉 Here are the key pillars of product discovery: 1️⃣ Understanding users: This involves research to get a deep understanding of your target customers' problems and desires. This might involve user interviews, surveys, or usability testing. 2️⃣ Validating solutions: Instead of just assuming you know what users want, you test out your ideas with real people to see if they solve their problems. This can involve building prototypes and getting feedback. 3️⃣ Building the right thing: By prioritizing user needs, you can avoid wasting time and resources building features that nobody wants. Overall, product discovery helps product teams make sure they're building the right products for the right reasons.

🚀 Top 3 Insights from Week 2 of Product Space PM Cohort: Mastering Product Discovery This past week, I’ve deepened my understanding of Product Discovery — a crucial phase in the product development journey. Here’s what stood out: 🔍 Understanding Users: Before building anything, it’s essential to dive deep into your users' needs and pain points. Through user interviews, surveys, and usability tests, you can gather valuable insights that inform every decision. The goal? To truly understand what your customers want and need. 🛠️ Validating Solutions: It’s not enough to assume we know what users want. Testing ideas early with real users is key. By building prototypes and gathering feedback, we can validate whether our solutions address the actual problems, saving time and resources in the long run. 🎯 Building the Right Thing: The ultimate goal of product discovery is to ensure that we’re building products that people will not only use but also love. Prioritizing user needs helps avoid the common pitfall of developing features that don’t add value. In essence, Product Discovery is about ensuring we’re solving the right problems for the right people, leading to products that resonate with users and drive success. 🌟 🔍 RICE Framework: I also explored the RICE Framework—a powerful tool for prioritizing projects. Here’s how it works: Reach: How many people will this impact? 🌍 Impact: How much will this impact the user or business? 💥 Confidence: How sure are we about our estimates and assumptions? ✅ Effort: How much time and resources will it take? ⏳ This framework simplifies decision-making by providing a transparent, quantifiable way to assess potential benefits and feasibility across projects. Recently, I worked on a meal delivery app designed for busy families with children aged 4-14, where I applied user segmentation to identify key pain points. It was a great opportunity to put these learnings into practice. 💬 I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! #ProductManagement #ProductDiscovery #RICEFramework #UserExperience #PMGrowth #LearningJourney

Hi Following is the learning from Week 3 of of the Fellowship Product Management Programme by Growjunction Topic: User Research, Market Research & Product Types In the realm of product management, user research encompasses the gathering of insights regarding the target users, serving to guide product decisions and ensure their alignment with user needs. This process involves various techniques listed below a. Interviews b.Surveys c. Usability testing d. User Personnas Market research within product management involves a comprehensive analysis of the broader market landscape. This includes understanding of competition, identifying trends, gauging market size, and pinpointing opportunities for growth. Within the domain of product management, the spectrum of product types spans across various offerings a company can develop and oversee. These include physical products, digital products, services, platforms, and more. Product managers are tasked with comprehending the distinct attributes of each type and harmonizing them with the company's overarching strategy and customer requirements. Thanks to the mentor Priyank Ahuja #Growjunction #fellowgrowjunction #productmanagment

Crafting Relatable Stories This is the second post in a series about my journey of discovering the impact of storytelling in SaaS product development at Katana Cloud Inventory. Continuing from my last post, once I started gathering real-life customer experiences, I needed a way to make these stories relatable. I created fictional characters facing the same struggles as our customers, which earned me some credibility. However, the stories were dull, and even I found them boring. I returned to the drawing board and introduced product demos focusing on small, manageable chunks of stories. Despite shortening the sessions to 20 minutes, they still felt boring. Then, a breakthrough happened. My colleague, Rainar Essenson, used actual bagels to explain expiring goods engagingly and ate them. This was my revelation: I needed to engage all the senses of my audience. In a subsequent demo, I baked cinnamon rolls while explaining how a baker could track ingredients and measure time. This kept the audience engaged and turned product demos into the week's highlight. This event is still remembered today, three years later. Next, I used Barbie dolls to explain stocktakes, which had an even more significant impact. This approach made my team comfortable approaching me and sharing insights, regardless of hierarchy. I'd like you to stay tuned for the final part of my journey, where I further reinvented my approach to storytelling and facilitated collaborative learning within my team.

This morning I attended Product Con London... online! An awesome event for Product people with some really insightful talks from inspiring speakers. Some fantastic reminders on things like... 💡 Thinking about customer expectations in the future and that they will not be using your product in the same way they do today 💡 Personalising the customer experience based on their intent rather than just their past behaviour 💡 Creating co-responsibility of success and failure with your stakeholders (and avoiding 'produxplaining' 🤣) 💡 Creating a double impact for the business and users by turning time into maximum return of investment 💡 Using a portfolio mindset to spread your bets, using your own level of risk tolerance to not just invest in the now and near future but also in building the next future 💡 Not making decisions that are just assumptions or opinion but also backed by data - taking ideas and using data to help evolve and shape them to bring value 💡 Balancing scale and empathy - having the data but also understanding the human behind it 💡 Leveraging storytelling to transform ideas into memorable narratives 💡 Prioritisation and being ruthless to reduce complexity and make it easier to measure success Looking forward to the rest of the day and more amazing talks 💪 Product School #ProductCon

Thrilled to share that I’ve earned my Product Discovery certification from Product School! While I’ve conducted product discovery work in the past, this course took me to a new level—delving deeply into user research, refining user personas, identifying core problems, and validating solutions. It also provided valuable insights into achieving product-market fit, further strengthening my skills to create impactful, user-centered products. Excited to put these learnings into action! #ProductDiscovery #ProductManagement

As I complete my fourth week at Product Space, I want to reflect on the incredible amount of learning that has taken place in such a short amount of time. Each week has been filled with new challenges, insights, and growth opportunities. Today, I want to share with you all my learnings from week 2 of Product Discovery. 💡 Key takeaways from the week 2 cohort session on Product Discovery👇 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 ? The Product Discovery process has 2 distinct parts. It includes developing a profound understanding about customers and then using that knowledge to build vital product for customers/users. Product Discovery plays a key role in helping product team to decide which feature or product to prioritize and why? 𝐖𝐇𝐘 ? Product Discovery cultivate deeper understanding of customer and helps product teams create products that customer want and need. 𝐇𝐎𝐖 ? 👉 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴: This involves research to get a deep understanding of your target customers' problems and desires. This might involve user interviews, surveys, or usability testing. 👉 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: Instead of just assuming you know what users want, you test out your ideas with real people to see if they solve their problems. This can involve building prototypes and getting feedback. 👉 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨: By prioritizing user needs, you can avoid wasting time and resources building features that nobody wants. 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 Notion . 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 👇 Stay tuned for more updates! #productspace #productdiscovery #teamwork #continuouslearning #productmanagement #notionproduct #product

Thrilled to have virtually attended ProductCon, London today; an event that continually sets the bar for insights in the product management space. Just like previous years, it delivered a powerhouse of ideas and innovation. Here are some standout themes: 🔭 Balancing present and future investments with a portfolio approach. 🎯 Tailoring customer experiences based on their current intentions rather than solely on historical actions. 📊 Using data to shape and refine ideas, turning them into valuable solutions. ⚖️ Harmonizing scale with empathy by recognizing the human element behind the data. 📈 Optimizing time for the greatest ROI, benefiting both the business and its users. 🤝 Distributing success and failure equally among stakeholders and avoiding over-explaining product decisions. ✂️ Implementing rigorous prioritization to streamline processes and enhance the measurability of success. 📖 Employing storytelling to convert concepts into compelling and memorable narratives. Accepting the fluidity of customer expectations and anticipating their future interactions with products. Notable sessions included insights on GenAI from Joe Futty of Booking.com, owner's mindset versus VC's challenge by Fabrice des Mazery, and a panel on building a customer-centric culture with experts from Pendo, Quantum Metric, Glassbox, and UserTesting. Carlo Bruno's take on moving from disjointed features to product-first thinking, Debbie McMahon's strategies on launching new products at Financial Times, and Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia's vision of the future of product were particularly enlightening. ProductCon, London, by Product School, once again proved to be an indispensable convergence of minds in the product management field, offering a wealth of knowledge and networking opportunities that will influence the future of product development and strategy. Sacrificing sleep from 3 am to 9 am CST to attend ProductCon was a trade-off well worth the exchange, as the insights gained were like a jolt of espresso to my passion for product management. #EarlyBirdAdvantage #ProductConInsights #ProductCon #ProductManagement #Innovation #CustomerExperience #DataDriven

PRODUCT SENSE ! Today, I had the opportunity to attend an amazing session hosted by Charu Jaju Nevatia on the topic of Product Sense. It was an eye-opening session, especially for beginners in this field! Key takeaways from the session: What is Product Sense? Understanding the intuition behind building the right product. Why Product Sense Matters: How product decisions shape user experiences and business success. Product Thinking vs. Project Thinking: A shift from simply executing tasks to understanding user needs and long-term value. How to Cultivate Product Sense: Practical techniques to develop the mindset necessary for impactful product development. This session has truly broadened my perspective, and I’m excited to apply these learnings in my future work! 💫 #productmanagement #Designthinking

🚀 Week 3 Recap of the Grow Junction Fellowship Product Management Program! 🚀 This week, we dived deep into User Research, Market Research, and how they shape different Product Types. Here are my key takeaways: • Why We Do User Research: We learned about the importance of user research in identifying and solving real user problems. It's all about understanding customer needs, behaviors, and pain points to create products that resonate with the target audience. • Types of User Research: Proactive vs. Reactive We discussed two types of research: 1. Proactive Research: Done before a product is launched to anticipate user needs. 2. Reactive Research: Conducted after the product is live to gather feedback and improve the product experience. • Research Frameworks: Several frameworks help structure research effectively, such as: 1. SWOT: Analyzing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. 2. PESTEL: Assessing Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors affecting the market. 3. Porter’s Five Forces: Understanding the competitive landscape and the forces shaping industry competition. • Primary & Secondary Research: We discussed the differences between Primary Research (gathering new data through surveys, interviews, etc.) and Secondary Research (using existing data from reports, studies, and other sources). Both types play a crucial role in gaining market insights. • Industry Research & Market Research: We explored how industry Research helps in understanding market size and segmentation, while market research provides a deeper look into competitors, trends, and the overall business landscape. • User Journey, Empathy Map, and User Persona: Mapping out the User Journey allows us to identify touchpoints where users interact with the product. We also created Empathy Maps to understand users' emotions and pain points. Developing a User Persona is essential for tailoring the product experience to specific audience segments. • A/B Testing: Finally, we covered the basics of A/B Testing—comparing two versions of a feature or product to determine which performs better. This iterative process helps in making data-driven decisions to improve the user experience. Big shoutout to Subham Bose for their insightful guidance. Excited to apply these frameworks and tools in the product development process! #GrowJunction #FellowGrowJunction #ProductManagement #Week3 #UserResearch #MarketResearch #SWOT #PESTEL #UserPersona #ABTesting #Product #learning #Progress