In the University of Exeter’s Digital team, our Product Managers work across a wide range of challenges. Every product has its own story, and each stage of its life cycle brings a different focus — from discovery to delivery and beyond.
At its heart, product management is about bringing people together, creating clarity, and shaping solutions and services that are useful, usable, and sustainable. Some days we’re exploring problems, talking to users, and gathering insights. Other days we’re refining roadmaps, prioritising work, or learning from how products are used so we can keep improving them.
To give a flavour of what this looks like in practice, we’ve captured a day in the lives of two Product Managers from the Digital team, each working on products at a different stage.
Find out more about how we’re celebrating World Product Day 2025 at Exeter.
A Day in the Life of Carla: Sprint Planning for MyExeter
Working as a Product Manager for MyExeter means embracing continuous discovery and improvement. Our agile team works in sprints—short, two-week periods where we complete specific work to meet a goal. As Product Manager, I’m responsible for setting that goal.
Today I’m highlighting some of the key parts of my day as a Product Manager at UoE.
I start the day with a virtual meeting joined by fellow Product Managers. We share our priorities and any critical updates. Today, I mention we’ll be prioritising a key fix for an issue generating an increasing number of support requests.
First I prepare for the sprint planning session; reviewing the backlog and prioritising items based on value. I check for dependencies and define a sprint goal—something that helps the team understand what we’re aiming to achieve. This prep ensures a focused and efficient planning session.
Our cross-functional team comes together to plan the next sprint. Clarifying requirements and estimating effort, we align on what we can commit to over the next two weeks, factoring in capacity and leave. We leave with a shared goal and clear understanding of what we’ll deliver.
I prepare the next batch of prioritised work for future sprints. This involved reviewing business requirements, updating documentation, and arranging calls with stakeholders to confirm any open questions.
I join a meeting with our Senior Delivery Manager to plan an upcoming team workshop. We brainstorm an agenda that works for in-person and online attendees, leaving with a clear plan and actions.
I wrap up by reviewing what I’ve achieved and preparing for tomorrow, which includes a meeting with the Design team and another with key stakeholders to gather requirements.
A Day in the Life of Allan: Preparing for Launch – Digital Skills Tool
The time leading up to a product launch can be dynamic and high-pressure. It’s when everything—design, development, testing, and planning—comes together. A Product Manager’s role is to guide the team through this period, keeping everyone focused and ensuring we’re ready to launch a product that meets user needs.
Below is a look at some of the key activities I do daily when preparing for a product launch.
At our end-of-sprint session, the team demos completed work. Today, we showcased UI improvements and faster load times in the Digital Skills resource library—both set to improve the user experience. We follow with a retrospective, reflecting on what went well and where we can improve. It’s a valuable space to share feedback and praise.
I meet with engineers and our accessibility specialist to ensure compliance. We review the latest accessibility report, prioritise fixes, and draft an accessibility statement outlining our current status and improvement plans.
I review the backlog and prioritise key launch items. As we get closer to launch, this often means making difficult decisions about what’s essential now and what can wait. It’s about balancing value, effort, and time without compromising quality.
We check on testing progress, ensuring key user journeys are covered and bugs addressed. We confirm which devices, browsers, and systems need compatibility checks to guarantee a smooth user experience.
I meet with stakeholders to review a new service document—a key step before launch. We walk through it together, identify gaps, and assign actions to secure approval and support a smooth, well-governed launch.
Even though we’re working on different products at different stages, our days share some common themes. Whether it’s planning, launching, or refining, we’re united by a focus on collaboration, curiosity, and creating meaningful, user-centred digital experiences. We’re always looking for ways to deliver more value and make a positive impact for our users.
– Written by Allan Stewart, Product Manager and Carla Pinhey, Senior Product Manager
Get involved with World Product Day 2025.
Take a look at our 2030 Digital Strategy.
Read our previous blog post to learn about Eve and Zoe’s career paths to product management.