Last updated: Nov 6, 2022

Table of contents

In March 2020, I took on the only technical PM role at Ahtar Oo and was simultaneously assigned to lead the product development team. As was common in smaller companies, especially when understanding and application of Agile and product best practices had not been prevalent in the industry, the team had been doing little to none structured product management. I succeeded a senior project manager whose strength had been exercising the Waterfall approach, which had worked terrifically when the company was much smaller and so were the project scopes.

It’s normal for people assuming bigger responsibilities to initially get startled and not have a clear framework to address multiple pressing issues at hand. In my particular case, I was fortunate enough to have been familiar with Alex Cowan’s Venture Design, Clean Agile, and Scrum due to my pastime research and reading. Those frameworks allowed me to get off to the fastest start possible and have been my guiding stars since. In this post, I’d like to discuss a framework I’ve developed over time at Ahtar Oo, adapting best practices to the nature of projects and the team’s capacities.

Product Overview

I was responsible for one Human Resource Management (HRM) solution for enterprises, comprised of 3 products:

• Windows-based HRM system (Windows HR), covering features for essential HRM needs.
• Web-based HRM app (Web HR): A complement to Windows HR with additional Web-enabled features.
• Web-based employee performance management system (Web PMS): A standalone app designed to satisfy all local businesses’ needs.

At Ahtar Oo, product iterations came about due to projects mostly initiated by 1) onboarding new customers, 2) change requests or new initiatives from clients, and 3) management’s requirements.

Lastly, I wasn't responsible for commercial dealing with clients, as it was a responsibility of the CFO.

Scenario

| Client | Five Sisters Group of Companies • Has 10+ subsidiaries, total of 1,300+ employees • Centralized HR management; the HQ sets policies • Top-down management culture | | --- | --- | | Project | Digitally transform the quarterly employee performance appraisal process | | Expected Outcome | Elimination of paper-based process; minimization of manual work in consolidating performance reports on all companies. Reach 80% of company objectives within 1st year of software rollout, due to • Increased employee awareness of objectives at all levels • Efficient tracking of employees' performance records and retrospective discussions between managers and employees |

Web PMS was pre-existing as a beta version, and my role was to

• Analyze the gap between client needs and the product functionalities.
• Work closely with the client and the team to discover solutions.
• Manage the project end-to-end to deliver the final product features.
• Facilitate change management for the rollout (including user training, maintaining support channel, and so on).

Note: I’ve adapted this post from a real project to preserve client confidentiality.