You're not your customer w/ Evan Groom - Product Manager at Audio Technica

On today's episode, I sat down with Evan Groom, Product Manager at Audio Technica. Throughout this series on why products fail, we've looked through the lens of startup founders and their experiences. Today, Evan shares lessons he's learned in a global company and industry leader. We talk about what pitfalls you might run into in well-established organizations that could inhibit the success of your product launches or kill them altogether. Excited for you to hear what Evan has to say, so let's get started. 

Here's what we discussed:

Audio Technica was a great fit for Evan's educational background as an Audio Engineer

How Evan worked his way from packing and shipping to support and then into Product and has been a PM for 4 years now

Why it's beneficial to have relationships with members of other departments as a PM and how his multiple roles with AT helped in his transition to Product

What AT (Audio Technica) looks like from an organizational level, starting with how HQ is based in Japan

How being a global company forces perspective changes due to the organic diversity

There is software involved in AT products, but AT is primarily a hardware company

Why we can never assume we perfectly know the market or the customer when making product decisions

The combination of customer insight and data are key in making product decision

How tools like Qualtrics can help gather quant data to aid in decision making

Why data isn't the end all be all and data is only as the questions you ask and how well the data you're tracking aligns with the questions you're trying to have answered

The importance of being scrappy as a PM to gather the right data

How complex product documentation (PRDs) can inhibit the success of your products

Any documentation needs to be a living and breathing thing versus something that never changes after the initial draft in "idea" phase

Why you need to be willing to "burn the ships"

How important mentorship is for new and aspiring PMs. 

Check out AIPMM: AIPMM

Connect with Evan: Evan's LinkedIn

Connect with me: LinkedIn Email

---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/productmanagementlessons/message