Cracking the Product Manager Role: Inside the Mind of Tingting Lin

I usually start my day by making myself a cup of coffee and taking a few quiet minutes to reflect. I like to think about what’s happened over the past few days and what I need to focus on today. Reflection is an important step for me, especially in the morning—it helps me stay grounded, set priorities, and make sure I’m not just going through the motions. This small ritual also gives me the mental space to brainstorm fresh ideas and think more clearly.

I started my career as an advanced math teacher while also creating digital products and content for educational technology. That experience gave me a deeper understanding of myself—I realized how much joy I found in solving real user pain points, especially when I could see the direct impact of those solutions.

At the same time, I’ve always been fascinated by how fast technology evolves and how it shapes the way we learn and interact. Through a lot of exploration and research, I discovered that product management is the perfect intersection of everything I care about: user empathy, continuous learning, and bridging the gap between business goals and technical possibilities. It felt like a natural next step that allowed me to grow while staying close to what I value most—creating meaningful, usable solutions.

When I first saw the quote by Bill Gates—“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”—it immediately resonated with me. To me, the best part of being a product manager is solving real customer pain points and delivering solutions they truly need. What I find particularly interesting is that what customers say they want isn’t always what they actually need.

Sometimes, they describe a surface-level issue, but the real need lies deeper, often hidden under assumptions or communication gaps. I enjoy the process of asking the right questions, listening carefully, and bridging that gap—because that’s when you uncover real value and create something that genuinely makes their lives better.

Design Thinking is one of the most important tools in my toolbox. It helps me stay grounded in user needs and think creatively about problem-solving. Apple’s approach to design has inspired me. One book that influenced my perspective is “Creative Selection” by Ken Kocienda, which shares how Apple iterated on products like the iPhone keyboard by obsessively focusing on small details that shape great user experiences. That mindset reminds me to never lose sight of the user’s perspective, even in the tiniest interactions.

For planning and alignment, I use Aha! to manage product roadmaps and ensure priorities are transparent and tied to business outcomes. On the execution side, Jira is essential for staying connected with engineering teams, tracking progress, and keeping things moving. Beyond the tools themselves, I think the real “toolbox” of a good PM is about being a clear communicator, an empathetic listener, and someone who can keep the team focused on the why behind the work.

The best product I’ve worked on so far is a self-service tool designed to automate manual support processes and streamline customer configuration tasks. Previously, whenever a customer needed to change system settings or get support, it often involved lengthy back-and-forth communication with the support team—clarifying requests, waiting for confirmations, and following up repeatedly.

With this product, customers can now resolve their support needs more quickly and clearly, without needing to rely on human support for every step. It not only improved operational efficiency but also significantly enhanced the customer experience.

I was the lead product manager for this initiative, working directly with customers to understand their challenges and translating those into product requirements. My goal was to make sure the solution wasn’t just technically feasible, but genuinely helpful and intuitive for the end users.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as a product manager was balancing competing priorities between customer commitments and internal engineering needs. At one point, we had two high-priority customer features scheduled for delivery, while engineering also had critical internal tasks like component upgrades and data center configuration. Due to limited capacity, the team couldn’t commit to everything. I took the lead in aligning all stakeholders, initiating structured conversations to understand both business urgency and technical constraints.

After weeks of coordination and careful prioritization, we reached a solution that addressed key needs on both sides. The experience reinforced how essential clear, persistent communication is—especially when you’re responsible for honoring promises to customers while supporting long-term product health.

I believe a hybrid approach is key. Big-picture flexibility is essential to adapt to shifting customer needs, market changes, and technical realities. At the same time, we need solid short-term planning, especially for the next two to three quarters. So that we can give the team structure, direction, and focus. In my experience, the best roadmaps combine long-term vision with the ability to make short-term adjustments.

For example, I align teams around quarterly goals but leave space to reprioritize based on user feedback or technical blockers. A roadmap should be a living document that guides, not dictates. Flexibility enables innovation, while planning keeps momentum and accountability.

I think agile is a strong foundation—its iterative nature allows teams to respond quickly and deliver value continuously. That said, I’ve seen cases where a pure waterfall approach led to teams feeling overwhelmed and losing sight of priorities. In my experience, the best process is one where everything is clear: when a team knows its capacity and velocity, planning becomes far more accurate and effective.

That’s why I prefer a hybrid model—engineering can stay agile in sprints, while product and design align on longer-term planning cycles. The key is to adapt the process to the team’s rhythm while keeping transparency, focus, and flexibility at the core. Ultimately, the goal is not to follow a methodology perfectly, but to build a system that enables the team to deliver consistently and sustainably.

One trend I’ve been thinking a lot about is the rise of AI in product management—whether it will replace parts of our job or make us significantly more efficient. On one hand, I’m genuinely excited about how AI can help with things like market analysis, customer segmentation, even generating early design drafts or user stories. But on the other hand, I roll my eyes a little when people suggest that AI can replace product managers entirely.

At the core of product management is human judgment, intuition, empathy, and the ability to connect the dots across people, problems, and possibilities—things that are hard to automate. I think the real opportunity is to embrace AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement. The best PMs will be those who know how to use AI tools thoughtfully, not fear them.

I would tell myself to explore product management earlier—to get exposed to the role, the mindset, and the craft of building great products as soon as possible. I wish I had started learning about product principles and design thinking sooner, and pushed myself to practice more PM case interviews to strengthen my product sense.

The earlier you start thinking like a PM, the faster you develop the ability to break down problems, prioritize trade-offs, and connect deeply with users. Looking back, every step I took led me here—but a head start would’ve helped me grow even faster.