In this video, Divya Anand, Product Manager at Uber, Ex-Amazon & HT Media, SP Jain & University of California Berkeley Alum, published author, shares her experience managing various products like Amazon Kindle and Shine.com.
Summary of the video
In this video, Divya takes us through her major career stints at HT Media and Amazon. She shares her experience working at HT Media, and how she was one of the few who spearheaded the product practice at Shine.com, HT Media’s recruitment offering.
Divya then talks about working with Amazon and being instrumental in managing Kindle just after it was launched in India. She talks of the difference in managing a product that is software versus a product like Kindle, a device. She shares how at HT Media, she went through the Shackleton Training. Just for your information, this training is based on the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition to Antarctica in 1914, when he managed to save 27 shipwrecked men from the frozen seas. It involves being mentally and physically fit, to excel at the workplace.
Divya then shares her experience working at Amazon in Seattle. She talks of her passion for books and reading, and how she read all about Amazon in this book called ‘The Everything Store.’ She shares how working at Amazon is like working at a very organised startup. She talks about the difference in handling a product like the Kindle, and how different kinds of PM roles exist.
If you’re interested in learning the way a PM thinks and acts, this video is a must watch for you.
Key Takeaways
- Be interested in your work. It helps you grow.
- There is a huge difference between managing a software product and a hardware product.
- Work-life balance is a matter of personal choice.
- There’s a fine line between the marketing and product teams. The marketing team handles communication and the product team highlights features that must be spoken about.
- Product management is a versatile career that spans various functions.
Also, watch Part 2 of Divya's talk
here