Today, we talk to Ori Bendet, who is based out of Israel and is Director of Product Management at Time To Know, the next-generation education technology solutions company, which empowers the human connection in digital learning.
Transitioning from QA Engineer to Engineering Lead to Product Manager at HP
Ori started his career as a QA automation engineer at HP. He grew in this role by becoming a team lead in the next two years and then working as an engineering manager for three years.That was the time when he contemplated of doing something else. He was lucky enough to get accepted into HP Software’s Global Innovation Program. It exposed him to the various aspects of entrepreneurship and product management.
“HP’s Global Innovation Program was the best Lean Startup and Product Management program I could have wished for and after the project ended, I knew that is was what I want to do when I grow up”, says Ori.
He then moved into a full time product manager position and successfully built and shipped three products at HP.
Why Ori thinks product management is the right choice and what he does in his current role at Time To Know
“You have the ability to create, you have the ability to influence and you have the ability to focus on what’s important. You manage the product and not the people”, says Ori.
Currently, Ori works as a Director of Product Management at a startup called Time To Know that develops effective training and knowledge alignment solutions. Their SaaS platform, ECHO, enables easy creation, enrichment, delivery and controls content while providing feedback, insights and recommendations.
He is responsible for the digital learning solution called iEcho, which targets independent instructors and SMBs digitize their learning processes. In addition to this, he and his team are working on a new exciting offering that is currently in stealth.
Ori’s typical day at Time To Know
Ori starts his day early in the office and makes sure everything is ready for the day. He minimizes his emails backlog and verifies that Jira is updated with all the relevant tasks.
Later in the day after he has a short 10-minute daily standup with his team to sync up on the daily progress and make sure nobody is stuck and everything is on track.
Once a week, he has a product management group meeting with other product managers to communicate and brainstorm on the current backlog.
He also has ongoing meetings with sales and business team, and with customers and prospects.
Ori’s secret of his success as a PM
“The secret is making sure you do everything that you can in order to make sure your product succeeds. It doesn’t matter what is your title and what falls or doesn’t fall under your responsibility. Do whatever it takes to make it happen. Be passionate about it and everybody else will follow.”
In his initial days, he used industry frameworks like Pragmatic Marketing, to map the gaps in his role as a product manager and worked on them. He made sure he understood all aspects of the Lean Startup methodology and incorporated it into his day to day work.
Ori’s big bet- AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Ori bets on Artificial Intelligence (AI). He believes that it is going to be a game changer in all industries and it will change our lives the way electricity did in the late 1800s. Machines will assist us with decision making and even make decisions for us.
What does Ori do in his free time?…and his favorite books
He spends as much time as possible with Michael, his 3 years old son and with Naomi his wife. He also plays basketball twice a week in an amateur league and Playstation 4 when he has the time.
About Ori
Ori is an experienced Product Leader with both Enterprise and Startup experience combining strong technical and marketing skills.He is currently leading a SaaS based digital learning platform at Time To Know called iEcho, which helps instructors and SMBs digitize their learning processes. Prior to that he spent 8 years in HP/E Software in various product and engineering positions. He believes in Lean & Evidence based methodology to make sure one solves the right problems for the right users. As a thought leader, he shares his experience and techniques via public speaking and active blogging.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oribendet/
This post has been published on www.productschool.comcommunities.
Beer with a product manager 