Product Manager Challenge

Part 1 – Product Scenario

Your team has been tasked with creating a platform that helps students better collaborate on coursework and projects.

1. Problem Exploration

   • Define two key pain points students face with collaboration today.

   • Describe your approach to validating whether these are real and worth solving.

2. Vision & Features

   • Propose a vision statement for the platform.

   • List 3 major features you would prioritize, and explain why (reference feasibility, impact, and effort).

3. MVP Definition

   • If you had only 6 weeks and a small 4-person engineering team, what would your minimum viable product look like?

   • Provide a clear prioritization rationale (e.g., using MoSCoW, RICE, or another framework).

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Part 2 – Execution

1. Roadmap & Planning

   • Create a high-level 8-week roadmap breaking down 3 phases (e.g., discovery, MVP build, iteration).

   • Assign approximate ownership (e.g., engineers, designers, PM responsibilities).

2. Communication & Proactivity

   • Draft a short status update email to your team at the midpoint of the project when you realize one of the features may be delayed. Show how you would:

     • Keep morale positive

     • Communicate clearly

     • Suggest next steps

3. Technical Awareness

   • Suppose engineers propose two implementation options for a core feature:

     • Option A: Quick to build but minimal scalability.

     • Option B: More complex but allows growth and integrations.

   • Which would you choose for an MVP? Justify your decision based on product management principles.

4. Ticket Cutting
   • Please create 2 tickets/tasks for one part of one of your potential features 
   • The Ticket should include: 
     • User Story
     • Acceptance Criteria 
     • Technical Details
     • Out of Scope
     • Level of Effort in the form of story points or estimated development time with justification

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Submission Guidelines

Submission Requirements 

PDF with:

1. Product Scenario 
   1. PDF with:
      1. 2 Key Pain Points
      2. Vision Statement
      3. 3 Prioritized Features
      4. MVP with included features 
      5. Prioritization Rationale
         
2. Execution
   1. 8 Week roadmap 
   2. Status update email
   3. Option A or Option B and justification

Public Github Repository including:

1. Kanban Board with 2 feature Tickets

Make sure to make your Kanban public so we can evaluate your tickets.

Submission Conventions

PDF should be formatted "Your Name - PM Challenge F25" (e.g. "Lucas Ha - PM Challenge F25")

You must submit your PDF and Github Repository link via this Google Form.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: October 10th @ 11:59 PM