Micro-Interview: Konstantin Dinev, Director of Product Development
💡Product management tips & tricks in 220 words.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Konstantin Dinev is a Director of Product Development at Infragistics, a global software company that publishes user interface development tools and components for various developer applications, across all platforms.
Konstantin is based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In under 500 words, he shares:
How he got into product management…
How he starts his morning for maximum productivity…
Some of his sources of learning…
And more…
Enjoy!
“How did you get into product management?”
It happened naturally as I progressed through the ladder at Infragistics. You do what you’re most impactful at and what’s needed the most at any given time. When the company needed me to step into a product management role, I did.
“How do you start your mornings at work?”
The business never sleeps, so I catch up on what has happened while I was sleeping. Customer inquiries are my first item to look at because response time is key to building trust between the customers and your product.
“What do you know about product management now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”
Even the best product can fail or fall behind the competition if you don’t market it well. Never focus solely on product delivery.
“What did your biggest product failure teach you?”
Create a narrow target audience for the initial product launch. Don’t try to satisfy everyone all at once from the beginning. Always ask yourselves “What is the core feature of this product?”. Hint: there should only be one.
“What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your product management learning curve?”
Literature and prepping for presentations. The first is core, the second is key to polishing your understanding. I highly recommend books like Built to Last and Dealing with Darwin.
“How do you stay updated on the best practices in product management?”
I look at resources, like books, videos, blogs, etc., every so often, but mostly I listen to my team. They are ambitious enough to want to raise the bar, hence they are most up-to-date on the “latest and greatest”. Evaluate and whenever you feel something may work, apply it.