For people aspiring to get into a product role, one of the problems that we face is how to apply the theory/frameworks that we learnt through books like “Cracking the PM Interview”, “Decode and Conquer” in a practical experience like a project/contest.
For instance, if you are into software you can practice your skills through websites like codeforces, hackerrank etc, if you are into data science there are huge repositories of online projects available, but such an ecosystem is largely absent in Product Management as of now. Yes, there are tons of blogs and websites available, but they all are focused on cracking interviews and not on the fun of building something. Here’s what you can do to have fun while learning, well that is not exactly what PMs do, but it's good for a start.
1.Go to your phone and pick an app randomly or the one you like the most.
2. As you explore the app ask yourself the following questions-
a) Is the app doing what it is supposed to do?
b) What would be the impact on users if you change the position of action buttons?
c) Try to find the top 3 problems with the app that you often face.
d) Can you think of some features that can solve these problems? And why is the problem not solved until now(there are always consequences-side effects)?
e) Write down the user journeys of various functions on the app, can you simplify the funnel maybe by short-circuiting a few steps.
f) What are the different metrics that you can think of which might be useful in measuring the growth/ health of the product?
g) Why is the app designed that way? Are there any hidden caveats?
3. Once you have recognized the problems try to validate that the same problem is faced by other users as well and is not just your problem. Jot everything down in an excel sheet.
4. Initially you will realise that it is difficult because you have become so accustomed to using these apps that a better way of using them is difficult to find.
5. Once you have selected a product and you know the answers to all the above questions- you can note your findings in doc or ppt.
6. After doing this on apps that you usually use, start randomly downloading apps from play store/app store and repeat the process.
7. You can showcase this work to PMs of that product and get their feedback. In fact, many companies have a similar first round where they ask you to make a presentation on a Problem Statement.
