The Product Team forms an integral part of any B2B SaaS organization. At Hevo, we are the champions of the customer when it comes to product features, developments, and experiences.
My journey at Hevo started when I joined as an Associate Product Manager(APM) even before I formally graduated. I expected to shadow a Product Manager at first to learn the ropes slowly, but my journey at Hevo has been entirely different. The Product Team at Hevo works as a cohesive unit where each member is given the same amount of responsibility and headspace to experiment. I was able to see this quality in the projects I was assigned, where I was able to work on crucial problem statements right from the beginning. Here are a few aspects of the Product team that I observed from these projects:
Coordination and Cooperation
The Product Team functions at the junction of many different teams across Hevo and needs to coordinate and communicate with many of them. Our job is to analyze all data and identify pain points in our product, come up with solutions to this problem after quantitatively analyzing the data, detail the solutions after finalizing them, and follow through with this project from beginning to end.
During this process, we first come up with a strong WHY through data analysis and come up with multiple solutions that are narrowed down to the best one. Then we work closely with the design team to come up with the visual aspect of the project. Next, we team up with developers and work on developing the solution. After this, we work with the Documentation team to document and represent a new feature. Simultaneously we have discussions with the marketing team to plan for partnership-based developments or our positioning for the new feature of the product. All stages are reiterated to hit our success metrics and revisited to ensure quality.
Once development is done, we monitor the release closely to ensure that performance is up to the mark and see if any blockers need to be addressed.
The entire process requires coordination with many stakeholders, which is something I learned from scratch.
Cohesive and Flat Team Structure
Though I joined Hevo before I even graduated, I soon discovered that my low experience was irrelevant, and it was just my work that mattered. As soon as I started, I was given very critical projects. I was tasked with creating a new destination integration (Firebolt), a partnership-based project. I expected to work on only small pieces of the project, but from day 1, I was the primary PM for the entire Firebolt integration. Apart from this, I also worked on other significant projects like Databricks, reducing turnaround time for the solutions team, and many other critical problem statements.
There is no difference in the way an APM and a PM are treated. We work as a group with one goal: to do the best for the product. Throughout this, the availability of the team and their willingness to help at all times has struck me. As a fresher handling a lot of responsibility and working on a project that had no precedent, there were many times that I was stuck or unsure, but I never felt out of my depth or unsupported. The balance was just right between freedom and support. I could speak freely with people much above me on the ladder and felt no hesitation in asking them any questions.
Working on Challenging Problems
Within ten days of starting my tenure at Hevo, I was tasked with the major project of creating Firebolt as a destination. This was a real challenge for me, as there was no precedent for such a project that I could draw from, and several unique cases had to be considered. In such a situation, I received a lot of support from the Dev team, especially the senior developer I was working with. We had many brainstorming sessions, coming up with solutions together. I was able to gain a great many skills and push myself rather than feeling overwhelmed or out of my depth.
This is a unique feature of being a part of the Product Team at Hevo. The work that I have been able to do, right from the beginning, has been difficult yet very fulfilling. When an expectation is set, it is often high, but there is always a tremendous amount of freedom and mentorship that comes with it.
Encouragement for Ambitions
Even on my first day of work, I had a very clear idea of my goals and what I wanted to accomplish through my work at Hevo. This was very well-received, and I have received a great deal of support to plan out my path the way that I want it. A PM or APM may work on a specific project for a more extended period, but the constant touchpoints at Hevo have made it such that I can continually evaluate and measure my own work. The individual attention and care that each team member gets and the ability to grow in the direction they want are phenomenal.
Leveling Up
Every project that I have been assigned has been a way to level up my skills. For example, a significant skill that I have developed in my work as a Product Manager is the tendency to approach problems from as many perspectives as possible before narrowing down on one of them. This has given me a very mature and balanced way of thinking.
The complexity of the projects that I have been working on has been increasing, to the point where it is astonishing to realize how much I’ve grown. My personal growth has consistently been an upward arc, with every project offering me the chance to sharpen the axe and gain new skills. Yet, there has never been too high a leap for me — each progression is a balance between challenge and comfort.
The Product Team at Hevo is truly a unique and thriving team, and the balance that we can strike always amazes me. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to join this organization right after my graduation, given how much I have grown and developed in such a short period of time.
