[Solution] Product Manager Challenge

Example Product Manager Challenge Solution

Part 1 – Product Scenario

Problem Exploration

1. Pain Point 1: Misaligned schedules and poor task visibility
  Students often struggle to track who is doing what and when. Without structure, deadlines get missed.
2. Pain Point 2: Fragmented collaboration tools
  Group chats, shared docs, and project trackers exist separately, forcing students to switch between platforms. This creates confusion and loss of accountability.

Validation Approach:

Run a 5–10 student survey and short interviews asking: “What’s your biggest frustration working on group projects?”

Observe existing workflows (chat groups, Google Docs, Trello).

Determine frequency and severity of the problem (e.g., >70% of students mention miscommunication as a frustration).

Vision & Features

Vision Statement:
“Enable student project teams to collaborate effortlessly with clarity, accountability, and focus.”

Top Features (prioritized):

Shared Task Board: Centralized board to assign tasks and deadlines. (High impact, feasible with small dev team).

Team Availability Sync: Lightweight scheduling tool to see teammates’ preferred working times. (Addresses coordination pain point).

Integrated Document Hub: Direct linking to shared files (Google Docs, GitHub repos) from one place. (Consolidation reduces fragmentation).

MVP Definition

Scope: In 6 weeks with a 4-person dev team.

Must-haves (M): Shared Task Board, basic user login, simple integration with external links.

Should-haves (S): Availability calendar.

Could-haves (C): Notifications, design themes.

Won’t-haves (W): AI task suggestions, advanced analytics.

MVP: Task management + document hub + simple user login.
Rationale: Immediate value, feasible, and a strong foundation for iteration.

Part 2 – Execution

Roadmap & Planning

8-week high-level roadmap:

Week 1–2 (Discovery): Competitor analysis (Notion, Trello), student surveys, MVP feature validation.

Week 3–6 (MVP Build): Engineers implement login, task board, doc hub. Designer sketches UI. PM runs twice-weekly standups + backlog grooming.

Week 7–8 (Testing & Iteration): User testing with 2–3 student teams, bug fixes, polish MVP UX.

Ownership:

PM: backlog prioritization, roadmap updates, user testing feedback.

Engineers: feature development, bug fixes.

Designer: UI/UX wireframes, polish.

Communication & Proactivity

Status Update Example:

Team,
We’re at Week 4, and while task board and login are on track, the calendar sync feature looks riskier than expected—we may not deliver it by demo week.

I suggest we officially move calendar sync into a “post-MVP iteration” milestone so we ensure our task board + doc hub are rock-solid for testing.

This way, the demo still wows users with clarity, and we keep momentum. Let’s regroup tomorrow to confirm final scope together!

—[Your Name]

Technical Awareness

Tradeoff Decision:

For the MVP, I would recommend Option A (Quick-to-build).

Rationale: The purpose of the MVP is validation, not scalability. If we confirm strong adoption, we can justify re-architecting in Phase 2. Choosing A allows the team to stay lean, deliver faster, and test real user feedback before over-investing in infrastructure.