like eso in terms of where am I today? I would start by saying that a lot off it. I have to thank my mentors, teachers who taught me, my parents the environment that I was in. As they say it takes a village toe. Help a child growth. So the extended village, the help me grow. That's it. There are a bunch of things that I did or I think anyone can do, which is what I'd like toe talk about. I e started out as an engineer writing core as I was developing software. I got interested in this field of product management, Andi. That led me to an MBA because I believe that that was the fastest path to get into product management. And since then I worked in a bunch of small companies on large companies that has stopped me in the field of product management. So in terms of experience, I would say it's being open toe what interests you continuous learning and trying toe improve. But from me product management standpoint, I would say that in terms of incidents and experiences are categorized everything in tow, functional expertise, things you learn toe, get functionally good at your job being ableto communicate with with your team with stakeholders, with the rest of the organization on. Also outside the organization, so communication as a broad area. And the third thing I would say is experiences in terms off, understanding yourself and knowing what you want and how you want to go about about it. So that's that's generally how I would categorize it in terms of specifics. Like I said after by NB, I worked in product management for A for some time. I decided that I wanted to have some sales experience, so I worked in sales for some time. But product management was what I really liked. And so I came back to product management, working for companies like Yahoo and then with a couple of startups and then my current current job. So it's been a journey, Andi, each off them. I would say it's being functional expertise, learning to share and communicate, and then knowing myselfagain. It various company to company. I have always bean someone who has bean interested in the work that I'm doing. Uh, but over a period of time, I've brought in work life, balance, work, family balance and so on. Eso frankly, I would advise new students toe. Look at it from a Are you enjoying standpoint? And if you are enjoying, then the work hours shouldn't be such a big deal. Basically, work hours don't factor in when you're enjoying the work as much as you should be enjoying. So try to focus on that. And one of my earlier questions I was talking about knowing yourself, right? And that's that's a part where you want to know yourself to say, Okay, what do I want to put in toe and what do I want to get out of this activity? So think about it that way. Don't look at it from explicit. Okay? Is it a 9 to 5 job or is it truly foot over the job? And so on? Um mhm do do keep a balance in your life. Like, don't don't be single track, but don't look at it myopically as what is the word covers that that would be my advice. Now all that said, finally it comes down toe. Yeah. What is it really like it? Abs and wins. Right now, I'm in the e commerce side of the world. And so during the holiday periods that there is a big peak and there is a lot of focus. But there are other times where things are a little more plan, not as chaotic, So it ebbs and wins. It could be pretty harsh some weeks, and it would be light in some other weeks.

So in the field of product management the job, really, it's about figuring out what the user wants. The strategy of the product, the roadmap off the product on actually making the execution off the product happened on retreating through that. So, in terms off responsibilities off what a product manager does or what someone in the field off product management does. It's a very, very wide area because a product entails everything from knowing the customer toe, launching it, toe marketing it, toe building it and so on. So it's a very wide swath. Every organization will have a different way on different areas, depending on the nature of the company. I'm in in a soft, typical software product management area. If you are a consumer product or any commerce product, the focus on certain areas maybe a little bit more as compared to let's say, b two b company so that are going to be variations. And there have been variations across the companies that I have worked for, including my own startup. But in general, I would say the areas of focus are around understanding and knowing the customer coming up with the road map for your product based on a strategy that you have come up with and all of this involves other stakeholders from leadership, right upto engineering, execution, customer support and so on, and then the overall idea off taking the product to market and marketing the product itself. Of course we can go into specifics on each of these areas. It's a very broad canvas and eso so saying one specific area seems a little weak. That's why I'm continuing to give the broad picture over here. Hopefully, that's useful.

Yeah, So I think I'll try this back to what? I've already said Major challenges and pain points in a job like yours. When you look at it at at a day to day level rate, it'll all boil down toe What are the okay, Subjective. And he deserves that. You're you have signed up for what you are part of the organization has signed up for and so on. When you look at it at a day to day 11, right? And as as someone said, finally, everything boils down to sales and G m v and things like that. But if you look at it at an abstract level and if you look at it more generically, I think it still boils down to the three things that a tree some of the things that I've already spoken about the first one is understanding the user. A major challenge is in really understanding the users because you are building for a problem that the user has. And so the challenge comes from that. That is also why many many products do not succeed because there is something missing. There is some some gap, either in understanding the user the strategy you came up with or in the execution off that strategy or a combination of all of those. So I would say that that's that's one aspect off the challenge. I wouldn't really call it a pain. It's just the nature of the job and if that excites you, then you should pick it up. The other part, I would say, is whether you are a small company or a large company. You always have to deliver on the promise. And that means that there is an execution challenge, that that is, that making sure that you're building the right thing and building it, executing towards it, making it really and eso on on the third part, I would say, is taking everyone around with you. It could be folks on on the extreme off, let's say marketing toe the other side to customer care, to supply chain and and so on. So there are basically it's not a single individual or even a small team of people who does that. There is a broad set off stakeholders, so communicating to them taking them along with you, I would say, is another aspect off the challenge that you have to be conscious about. So in terms off, what approaches are effecting in effective in overcoming these, I would say that in general, goes back to being functionally good, right? If if you are not ableto do your job, probably it will never work out. So make sure that you're learning constantly and are tryingto get inputs from wherever you can cross organizationally and even outside your organization toe. Learn and be good at your job. So that's one aspect. The second aspect is the communication part that I was talking about on going back to examples. I would say that even now, for example, I take courses on coursera. I think consciously about what I'm doing. I try toe, ask people and learn from others on. That's what has helped me in getting better. Functionally. The second part is the communication part I was talking about. Same thing, uh, seek feedback. Onda. Learn from that. I would say that that's that's what helps a lot on be open toe criticism or be open toe hearing out when people have something negative to say and see if, if that's valid, Andi react accordingly. So, for example, as an engineer MBA. I tended to be very more focused on the understand the user, the execution part and not so much on the communication part, which is a little softer, a soft skill right on. Duh. That's something that I have consciously changed over the years just because I heard from my stakeholders that it would be better if you, uh, tell what's going on and what you're doing, instead of just being maniacally focused on getting it done. So that's that's something that I learned, and hopefully students who are watching this will learn that faster than I did.