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Vikrama Dhiman

Episode #291

Head of Product

Gojek

🚀Career & Leadership👥Team & Culture📈Growth & Metrics

📝Full Transcript

12,260 words
Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:00): Your name has come up more times than almost any other product person when I ask people for their favorite product leaders in Asia. Vikrama Dhiman (00:00:07): I created a career growth framework for product managers, which comprises of three things. What you produce, what you bring to the table, and what's your operating model. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:18): Your advice is early in your career, focus on just getting stuff out and done. Vikrama Dhiman (00:00:22): Can you show me your last PRD? Can you show me the last product note that you sent? Can you show me the product strategy doc? You must have that impact through the artifacts that you work on. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:32): I'm curious what you found most impedes people's career growth. Vikrama Dhiman (00:00:37): How you view change, whether you are focusing on things you control, and third is how you see yourself. The moment you are able to correct those stories, you may be back on the growth path again. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:52): Today, my guest is Vikrama Dhiman. Vikrama heads all things product at Gojek, including product management, design, program management, research and insights with teams across India, Singapore and Indonesia. He has previously worked at companies like Directi, Airtel, MakeMyTrip and WizIQ and is among the most well-known product leaders in Asia. When I asked people who their favorite product leader is in Asia, Vikrama's name has come up almost more than anyone else's. We chat about how to move into product management, how to be a great product manager, how product managers often shoot themselves in the foot, and so much more. With that, I bring you Vikrama Dhiman after a short word from our sponsors. And if you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It's the best way to avoid missing future episodes and it helps the podcast tremendously. (00:01:45): This episode is brought to you by Uizard...

💡 Key Takeaways

  • 1Early career PMs should obsess over 'Output' (execution) rather than Strategy; earn the right to strategize by delivering reliably.
  • 2The '3 W's' of career growth are: What you produce, What you bring to the table, and What's your operating model.
  • 3Product artifacts (PRDs, memos) are your resume; their quality demonstrates your depth in data, design, and tech.
  • 4Effective collaboration means raising difficult issues without being a difficult person to work with.
  • 5When transitioning to PM, focus on mastering two out of three hard skills first: Data, Tech, or Design/Research.
  • 6Career stagnation often comes from telling yourself limiting stories (e.g., 'I am high agency' as an excuse for being rude).
  • 7Benchmark your skills against the best in the industry, not just the best in your current team, to maintain a high rate of learning.

📚Methodologies (3)

🚀 Career & Leadership

A diagnostic tool evaluating a PM's value based on tangible output, the intellectual depth they add to that output, and how they interact with the organization.

Core Principles

  • 1.What You Produce (Output): Focus on tangible deliverables (shipping features, running experiments). Essential for early career.
  • 2.What You Bring to the Table (Impact on Impact): The quality of your artifacts (PRDs, Strategy Docs). Demonstrates depth in Data, Tech, Design, and Strategy.
  • 3.What's Your Operating Model: Communication and collaboration. How you influence stakeholders and organize the community.

"The mistake I see a lot of product managers make is they start operating in either output or outcomes... You always, always have to have the output and outcome even when you're moving up."

#career#growth#leadership
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👥 Team & Culture

Three mantras to guide behavioral interactions with stakeholders, ensuring the PM is viewed as a leader rather than a blocker.

Core Principles

  • 1.Raise difficult issues without being difficult to work with (Move from emotional to logical arguments).
  • 2.Bring out important topics without drawing importance to yourself (Focus on the product/user, not the ego).
  • 3.Ensure decisions are made without making all the decisions yourself (Facilitation over dictatorship).
  • +1 more...

"Raise difficult issues without being difficult to work with. Bring out important topics without drawing importance to yourself."

#stakeholder#collaboration#triad
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📈 Growth & Metrics

Evaluates PMs on 8 axes. For growth/transition, PMs should pick 1-2 'hard' axes to master first based on their background before tackling Strategy.

Core Principles

  • 1.The 8 Axes: Data, Design/Research, Technology, Strategy, Communication, Collaboration, Organizational Skills, Community.
  • 2.Transition Leverage: If coming from Tech/Data, focus on Design/Research. If from Design, focus on Data/Tech.
  • 3.Focus Strategy: Don't try to improve all axes at once. Pick the one that gives maximum leverage for the current role.

"You can't improve on every single area... Pick which is the area which is the maximum leverage for you."

#8-axis#skills#leverage
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