Meet the Product Manager
At dualoop, we have a big heart for the product management community and love to engage with product managers to celebrate and learn from their unique stories and advance the field of product management. Join us in this interview series where we amplify the voices of product managers who are making waves inside their organisations!
Jeroen van Loock — Head of Product @ Loctax
What led you into product management?
I started my journey as a product manager at EY. Prior to that, I worked as a tax consultant, writing tax technical memos. After several years, I had the opportunity to work as a subject matter expert on tax technology projects within EY. This eventually led me to transition into the role of a PM and later become the head of product.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Like many startups, we don’t have a set routine for each day. However, we do have a daily standup with the design and engineering teams. After that, I often have scheduled user interviews or calls with industry experts. Afterwards, I analyze the insights from these interviews, create tickets, and discuss with the team how we can improve the product based on what we learned. We also collaborate with our customer success team to fully understand how our users are reacting to our releases.
What are you currently working on?
At Loctax, our focus is on tax compliance and tax risk management. We are currently preparing the second version of our compliance dashboards.
We recently launched our risk management app, which is used by in-house tax teams to track and manage all tax risks within their organizations. It’s exciting to see the app being utilized. We are continuously making incremental improvements to the app with each sprint.
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What are your favorite tools to use during work?
We strive to keep our toolset streamlined. Our central point for collecting all PM-related information is Cycle (shout out to www.cycle.app). For design, we use Figma, and to prepare sprint planning and mange the dev work, the team uses Linear. If I’m unsure about which tool to use, I typically turn to a Notion page or a Google Sheet.
What do you pay attention to when you hire new PMs?
I’m interested in hearing about any passion projects individuals may have. It can be anything, but I want to know what drives and inspires them. It’s a great way to learn personal and interesting stories. It’s a red flag if someone is not passionate.
What product or feature have you been blown away by recently?
ChatGPT continues to blow me away. Just last week, I was trying to find a song but could only remember the music video. I described the music video rather vaguely to ChatGPT, and it was able to immediately identify the song I was looking for. It’s amazing how little information it needs to be helpful. A few months ago, I bought AirPods. The experience of unboxing them, connecting them to my iPhone, and using them has been incredible.
What do you do to stay up to date and become better as a product manager?
I subscribe to several newsletters that I read from time to time. I also enjoy reading books, particularly those from Stripe Press (https://press.stripe.com/).
While not strictly focused on product management, but very inspiring. When I have a long drive, I listen to Lenny’s Podcast.Loctax is a remote-first company, which means that I only get to meet most of my colleagues in person three times a year. However, I enjoy attending meetups such as those organized by the “Product Consortium,“. They provide a wonderful opportunity to socialize with other individuals who share my passion for product development.
Any recommendations for aspiring product managers?
For aspiring product managers, my recommendation would be to ask yourself product questions every day. When you use any product, consider what improvements you would make. Why you would make them, who would benefit from them, how you would implement them, and how you would communicate about those improvements. Write about this, don’t be afraid to share your thoughts.
