Bharat Manglani is a Product Manager at White Ops, a cybersecurity company focused on verifying the humanity of transactions over the Internet and disrupting the economics of cybercrime. After 10 years as a technology strategy consultant, Bharat pivoted into the technology sector. Currently, he manages the customer-facing portal, and his passion lies in managing the end-to-end product lifecycle. In his role as product manager, he empowers users to mitigate sophisticated fraud across their advertising, marketing, and application ecosystems.
What’s your favorite product and why?
Like other great product managers, Bharat applauds products that encourage ease of use and peace of mind for the user.
“My favorite product is YNAB. Essentially, it provides a simple philosophy and application to help people keep within their budget and in tune with their savings goals. As a result, people are less worried about their finances as a result.”
Why product management matters to Bharat Manglani
Most people will agree that success in any career requires a passion for the work. Clearly, Bharat has passion in spades for product management.
“I have always had a passion for building technology products whether it be for entertainment, automation, or the facilitation of difficult tasks. Products can provide a great channel to help people by equipping them with tools that improve their lives in meaningful ways. I especially enjoy this aspect of product management. I’m always delighted to see products I work on make positive impacts (e.g., disrupting the economics of cybercrime).
What makes a great product?
“A product requires a few things to make it great. First, a great product should have a meaningful impact in its users’ lives. You can measure this in many ways depending upon the context. Next, users should be able to accomplish their goals with a minimum amount of friction, and finally, it should provide utility even beyond the users’ stated needs. If done correctly, this results in automatic adoption and engagement by the target market.”
What makes a great product manager?
“A great product manager can work through ambiguous and complex issues to distill key elements required for assessing market fit. As a leader, they must be able to rally a team around a mission. They also need to be able to manage a diverse set of personality types, despite not having formal authority. Finally, a great product manager must excel at building relationships, using influence and clear communication to achieve product milestones as a team.”
What are the blogs, newsletters, books, or resources that you find most helpful?
Not to toot our own horn, but we especially approve of Bharat’s second recommendation.
“Product Plan has a great collection of templates, resources, and guides to help product managers plan and manage activities through the product life cycle.”
“Products That Count is an incredible network of Product Management professionals and resources. You’ll find the latest trends and thinking grounded in the community’s vast experience.”
“The 280Group has developed a library of templates and artifacts that are an invaluable asset for structuring product strategy and execution.”