Role Overview
The Product Lead is responsible for the overall direction and strategy of a specific LHD project's purpose and solution and it’s team (consisting of 2-8 other students). They decide what gets built and when. The Product Lead drives development of a specific LHD project by defining clear product goals, features, and success metrics. They are responsible for the day-to-day management of their project's product direction, translating the high-level vision set by the Product Director into an actionable backlog to maintain and delegate for their team. The Product Lead works closely with their project's Technical Lead and UX Design Lead to guide a product or feature from concept to launch, ensuring it effectively solves a specific student problem.
Key Responsibilities
- Product Execution & Backlog Management
- Guide a product from conception to launch and beyond, ensuring it delivers value to the student body.
- Formulate the "why" behind a product via user research to understand pain points, competitive landscapes, and emerging trends.
- Set the long-term vision and direction of the project via a Product Roadmap, and strategize the outline of the path to achieving that vision, outlining key features and initiatives.
- Define and manage the product backlog for the project, creating and prioritizing user stories and tasks, delegating it to both the Technical Lead and UX Design Lead, overseeing and ensuring it’s effective implementation and progress.
- Develop a deep understanding of the project's goals and user needs to make informed feature-level decisions.
- Write product specifications for new features.
- Regularly conduct analyze user interviews, user data, user feedback, metrics , A/B test results, and survey data to make informed decisions.
- Ensure the project team has a clear understanding of what they are building and why by drafting a Product Requirements Document.
- Team Collaboration
- Serve as the primary point of contact for all product-related questions within the project team.
- Collaborate regularly with the project's Technical Lead and UX Design Lead to ensure product requirements are being met (e.g. meeting with the UX Design Lead and appropriate designers to collaborate on specific features prioritized by the Product Lead).
- Coordinate recurring stand-up meetings with the development and design team to discuss progress and address any roadblocks.
- Mentor the Technical Lead, UX Design Lead, and any Product Fellows about product management principles for their own teams by ensuring they progress through the Skill Tags Framework's Product Skill Tags, Pathways, and Badges.
- Communication & Reporting
- Regularly communicate project status, progress, and any challenges to the Product Director.
- Help present project demos and updates to the wider LHD organization, the University, and student body.
- Finance Management
- Recruitment & Onboarding
Qualifications & Skills
- Required
- Strong organizational and communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team.
- Comfortability with agile methodologies and product management concepts.
- A user-focused mindset and a passion for solving problems.
- Must be an active student at The University of Texas at Austin.
- Preferred
- Previous experience as a member of an LHD project team.
- Experience writing user stories or managing a project backlog.
Term of Service
Product Leads are expected to serve for at least two academic semesters. There is no term limit, and leads are encouraged to remain involved as long as they are willing and able to fulfill all responsibilities associated with being a lead. Leads may be removed, as determined by the Executive Board, for inactivity, ineffective project progress or team development, or failure to fulfill the necessary duties for their role.