Case Study : Tejas Sumant, Archiect to Product Manager

“Committing to the passion pursuit is very similar to getting in the Passion Pool. For many of us, that's a terrifying thought that keeps us on the edge of the pool, looking longingly at the water, but unwilling to take the big Plunge.”

However, Tejas Sumant, who has 11 years of experience in technical pre-sales, solution architecture, product development and project lead, did not want to hold himself back as wanted to learn more about product management which he realized of late as his absolute passion.

What triggered him to take this plunge?

●More freedom to take decisions
●Scope for innovation
●Lesser direct people management
●Be part of bigger picture of product journey
●Seeing direct impact of my contribution
●Role which is critical to success of product

Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.

Baby Step or big plunge:

Twenty years from now we will be more disappointed by the things that we didn’t do than by the ones we did do and when it comes to pursuing your passion, instead of taking baby steps, it is always better to take a big plunge…. That’s what Tejas did to chase his dreams. Tejas had attended PMP workshop earlier with Adaptive marketing and found faculty way above his expectation. Also, when he looked at the course content carefully, he found it extremely compelling. No other top MBA schools in Asia had this curriculum. Industry connect was very crucial dimension of ICPM and Tejas felt that working on the live product idea was absolutely delightful and this also gave him immense confidence.

If it does not challenge you, it does not change you.

It was quite challenging for Tejas to manage the program along with his busy work schedule and that too as he was based in Pune. Other factor which he found extremely tough to deal with was his commuting to Bangalore from Pune as there was no day bus facility available and he did not feel that night bus as very convenient option. Tejas felt that the ideas available for product labs to choose were very complicated as most of the ideas were quite challenging, he tried choosing something simple which could be worked along with his hectic office hours. However, what matters is happy ending… Tejas Sumant describes the program as; “A product management education program with very relevant course contents, highly competent practitioner faculty, great industry connect and encouragement for entrepreneurship. “

3 key takeaways from this program

●Industry connect is highly essential in addition to skills. ●Working on real startup idea makes PM theory stronger. ●Soft skills are must but tough to be acquire mastery. Soft skills greatly changes attitude to counter any hurdle in to get job done.

Tejas defines his entire journey right from starting ICPM program to getting a new role of a Software Product Leader as a smooth and successful transformation. His industry network which earlier was missing got expanded significantly post ICPM program. Moreover, soft skills learned during the course helped him a lot in his career as soft skills are what accompany the hard skills he feels.

He was performing technical pre-sales role during the ICPM program. The role demanded interaction with various stake holders. ICPM education helped him to become more effective and influential in his current role. Product thinking skill that he learned during the ICPM program has helped him to understand his customers and their product better. Post ICPM, Tejas Sumant has recently joined as a Product Analyst at Aptify, a Pune based Software Company.