Welcome to the Product Playbook Newsletter!

A little bit about me and why I am writing this

This is The Product Playbook, a newsletter where I share real-life stories and experiences as a Product Manager.

My name is Yahia Hassan and I'm excited to share my experiences and insights with you. Before we dive in, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

My journey into product management was accidental. In 2016, I was working in Doha, Qatar as a “Technical Manuals Office Engineer” aka a Technical Writer. Qatar was constructing a new city north of Doha, with Lusail Stadium as its centerpiece. This stadium recently hosted the most memorable World Cup final ever.

I was entering the third year of my contract. The project was interesting. I had never worked on anything of such size (a $45B megaproject). But it also did not leave much room for creativity or innovation. My primary responsibility was writing and maintaining the megaproject's standard operating procedures. A lot of procedures. 2000+ pages worth. When I had time, I tried to create new ways of doing routine jobs. I’ve always had an interest in problem-solving.

The company culture at Parsons was very corporate. Employees had to clock in and out. If you didn't complete your contract hours, your pay would be docked. I remember everyone lining up at the time clock to clock out in the afternoons. It was easy to tell who was late in the morning because they would be waiting at the time clock when the day was over. Sigh.

My best friend from college happened to be in Doha at the same time. We used to rap together back in the day. He was also going through the corporate slog, working in Investor Relations.

One Friday night at our usual spot in Souq Waqif, he told me about an idea he had for a startup. He wanted to make the experience of out-of-home advertising as accessible as digital advertising. How? By allowing SMBs to get access to digital screens out in the wild that they’d never had before. He asked me if I wanted to invest and come on as a co-founder. After some deliberation, I went for it. Although I didn’t know it at the time, that decision was the first step of my journey into product management. We shut down the startup in 2022. But I would not be where I am at today without that experience.

Currently, I am a Senior Product Manager in the sports data industry. I create products that ease the collection of data on American football. I've worked on B2C, B2B2C, SaaS, and now a niche B2B enterprise SaaS.

I’ve been consuming product management content for the past 5 years. Books, newsletters, and podcasts. While I have benefitted from everything I’ve come across I encountered one problem over and over. The perspectives were primarily of Americans or Europeans from developed countries. And within those perspectives, there was a lack of diverse representation. I've never worked as a product manager in one of the big tech companies and I'm a minority. So why not share my experiences?

My goal is to provide insights and advice from my perspective through stories. I'm most often asked what it's like to be a product manager in an industry centered around data and sports. There will be plenty to share from my time in sports data and analytics.

I believe that product management can be a challenging and rewarding field, and I hope that by sharing my experiences and insights in a relatable and entertaining way, I can help other product managers navigate their challenges and succeed in their careers.

So, if you're a product manager looking for some inspiration, guidance, and a good laugh, I hope you'll consider subscribing to my newsletter. I promise to do my best to provide value to you.