Product Trends, Decisions and Domains | Bandan Jot Singh | Beyond Coding Podcast #134

Strategic Roles

In the realm of product management, strategic roles are pivotal in shaping both tech and market orientations. Bandan Jot Singh shares his experience at Gojek, where he transitioned into a strategic role, managing the payments domain of a super app. This role required him to think long-term about product decisions, balancing customer convenience with infrastructure demands 1. He explains that strategic thinking is not confined to a specific role but is a mindset that involves planning for future market changes and risks 2.

Strategy is a word that you can fit into these long time horizon thinking. And that's what strategy is.

--- Bandan Jot Singh

Bandan emphasizes the importance of understanding market reactions and competition when making strategic product decisions 3.

   

Evolving Responsibilities

The roles in product management are evolving, with a shift towards market orientation and strategic thinking. Bandan notes that product managers are now expected to focus more on market dynamics, while engineers are becoming more product-minded 4. This evolution requires both product managers and developers to step out of their comfort zones, embracing new responsibilities and perspectives 5.

It's a change that's happening now also with all of the books and the authors, and that's the kind of culture that's being encouraged in general product building nowadays.

--- Bandan Jot Singh

This shift is seen as a positive change, fostering a culture of collaboration and mutual understanding between technical and market-focused roles.

   

Decision-Making Dynamics

Strategic decision-making in product management involves balancing short-term and long-term goals. Bandan discusses the importance of having a strategic plan that considers both immediate and future organizational needs 6. He highlights the role of experimentation in decision-making, noting that even with strong experimentation cultures, more than 50% of experiments can fail 7.

If I'm more than 50% wrong in companies where I'm experimenting, I should be really careful in companies where I'm just relying on non-experimentation techniques.

--- Bandan Jot Singh

This insight underscores the complexity of product management and the need for careful consideration of market and customer feedback.