Product Manager vs Marathon Runner — A story from a fintech PM in an e-commerce company
Product Manager is one of the fastest-growing, in-demand jobs on the market, and one of the roles that can affect the future of the company.
A Product Manager (PM) connects business strategy, design knowledge, and customer needs to develop a relevant, feasible, and valuable product by implementing tech solutions. PM encompasses a broad set of ongoing strategic responsibilities and becomes someone who determines a product’s overall vision, roadmap, and direction.
Not stopping there, a Product Manager also needs to have solid soft skills from the ability to do multi-tasking, smart time management, fast learning capability, analytical thinking, and being a data-driven decision-maker for the products.
I noticed some similarities between a Product Manager and a marathon runner, what are they?
Just in case you don’t know, a marathon is a long-distance foot race, it requires marathoners to utilize their energy efficiently to reach the finish line within a certain time.
Being a marathoner is pretty similar to a Product Manager, if you can visualize the long-distance race and finish line as the product roadmap, energy as the resources that Product Managers have, track or route as our rules and boundaries from a compliance standpoint, and time as our project timeline.
Just like a marathoner, a Product Manager needs to be able to manage their resource (energy) efficiently within a set of timelines in order to reach the finish line or deliver the product on time based on the product roadmap.
The first time I heard about product manager role was when I tried to apply for a new job for my internship program. I don’t know how this job works, but from what I’ve read, this role requires a skill set that matched my interest and my background as an Information System student.
Thru this article, I will not explain further about the Product Manager job itself, but more on how I ended up liking a job that is very challenging, full of excitement, also turns my days into a sort of adrenaline rush; and going on my own marathon.
You may have some questions about how these products could create an adrenaline rush in my working life and made me a full-time marathoner (Product Manager). Let’s go back to a few months ago when I just started this marathon…
The beginning of the marathon
In November 2020, I applied for the Product Manager role at Blibli for my internship program, and surprisingly I’ve passed the interview and I joined the squad by 23rd February 2021, specifically under a squad named Wallet and Financial Services that handle lots of products like Blipay Wallet, Blibli PayLater, Blibli x blu, bank account registration, Kartu Kredit BCA Blibli Mastercard, and Seller Wallet.
As time goes by, I learn how Blibli as one of the top 5 e-commerce in Indonesia runs in a fast-paced working environment where the employee needs to move quickly and constantly improve our products to stay competitive in the market. We develop and improve our products through sprints with limited resources from our development team, so keeping it efficient by prioritizing our development will be essential in order to deliver high-quality products for all stakeholders including our customers.
But I must say, being a Product Manager in the Wallet & Financial Services field also has its own challenges besides the general challenges I mentioned earlier. To be frank, one of the biggest visions from the squad itself requires us to have our customer financial needs identified, and relevant financial products will be offered. This vision also becomes our goal to finish our marathon track. Let’s find out more about that on this next section.
The marathon track
The Wallet and Finance Services squad has a bold vision where we provide the most satisfying and relevant payment experience for customers. However, this great vision and the products within the squad are highly regulated by the financial regulator (OJK and BI). This gives us a clear track and boundaries on where should we run. We need to comply with all the regulations to launch the products and we need to always assess a product extensively from all perspectives before releasing or launching a product.
The story in the middle of the marathon
As a Product Manager somehow uncertainty is our best friend. There was a time when I just joined the squad, the team already completed development for one product, let’s name this Product A. This is mandatory development is required by the regulator (BI).
Out of the blue, BI requested additional features and that means we need to arrange another development. With all the limitations, we managed to prioritize this development and we were able to finish this on time and all the required documents were submitted to BI.
While waiting for BI feedback and license, we kept moving. We developed other high-priority items based on roadmap and commitment to the management team. Like when we are passing marathon checkpoints where we move from one item to other items in the product roadmap.
After some time, we got a news that we obtained approval and license for Product A. But surprise, surprise, we need to launch the product within 180 days after obtaining the license. But it’s not time to panic, just yet… because there’s more…
We put Product A in our second-highest priority since we were developing another product, Product B. We put this product to first priority due to commitment to the management team to deliver this product on time. We thought that we still had enough time to enhance and launch Product A.
But then, our long pending product since last year, called Product C, suddenly got its license approved and it should be up one month after the license is obtained.
The timeline was messed up at that time, we have to develop and released all those products with tight resources and timelines. Do I feel the pressure? Yes! I even wanted to cry hahaha, just kidding :P
The marathon supporter
With all the pressures and tight timeline, I am thankful that I have such a supportive mentor, seniors, and a solid team that always support each other.
Those strong supporters made me confident and excited to deliver everything because I have full support on my back.
And finally, we managed to crossed the finish line, we delivered all the products on time, launched it to our customers. We got our prize too as we managed to create the feel of #FOMO in the community, WOOHOO!!
Here is a quick recap regarding some of our products a.k.a the result of my marathon ;)
Blibli PayLater (Bucketized Limit)
That was my marathon story, my fantastic experience as a Product Manager. There are a lot more to come but the experience is really worth it!
Thank you for taking the time to read my story!
If you’re interested in applying for a full-time position or intern, Blibli is currently hiring! Send your resume to recruitment@blibli.com and get the chance to work with our PM and UX team and create our own unique stories.
