58: Death to PRDs?

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Saumil Shrivastava (UiPath) and Mark Cramer (Meta) to talk about the death to PRDs. What is a PRD and can it be removed from a company? How can this tool help a PM’s job and what is its relationship with backlogs? A PM should be able to understand the importance of PRD and how it can be a starting point to get anything done. 

*Disclaimer: “All opinions of the speakers are their own.”

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What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 05:13 What is a PRD?
• 08:15 PRDs are the starting point to get anything done
• 09:25 Have a goal
• 11:41 Format doesn’t matter
• 12:28 Strategy documents
• 14:55 A part in PRDs that can be removed
• 17:20 Backlogs
• 19:16 Strategy depends on the size of the team
• 21:22 Relationship between PRDs and backlogs
• 24:59 Shifting focus from PRD to backlog overtime
• 27:18 Purpose is different
• 29:31 Backlogs are a PMs domain
• 30:43 Project managers and engineering manager on backlogs
• 33:46 Sometimes effectiveness is more important than efficiency
• 36:30 Advice for beginners in PRD
• 39:13 Find a mentor
• 40:39 Your job is not about the tool
• 42:42 Final thoughts