I’m sure you’ve heard so much about the buzzwords, “Product Management/Product Manager”.
Since the day you looked up “How to get into tech as a non-tech person” on Google, those two words have never left your news feed. It’s now so serious that you see it at every turn you make online.
Finally, after some hard thoughts, you decided to throttle down its paths — watched a bunch of Youtube videos from Product School; completed some high-quality certifications including the famous Product Management Nanodegree Program on Udacity.
Now look who we have here, ahh! A fully baked Product Manager! Guess what, she even just landed a role at Paystack, her dream company. Another win, yet again!
It is quite surprising (but not surprising) that even with all the sauce and creme she has, as the days to her resumption at this new role draws nearer, her anxiety keeps compounding.
While she’s anxious about so many things, her anxiety is mostly caused by imposter syndrome — thinking she’s a fraud and doubting that she can deliver or even be able to amount to anything in the new role.
If you are like her, worry no more, I bring you good news! In this post, I’ll show you how to get over the anxiety and the imposter complex and be the best Product Manager you’ve ever seen. A top-notch and successful product manager.
I’ll show you what you should be doing in the first 1–2 months in your new role. These activities will be classified into 3 categories:
- Company-wide activities to be done
- People/team-related activities
- Product-related activities
Company-wide activities:
- I’ll spend time learning about the company — What are the mission and vision of the company? What are all the products of the company and why are these products built or what was the reason behind developing these products? How does the company make money? Key partnerships the company has? etc.
2. I’ll learn about the short-term and long-term goals & objectives.
3. I’ll learn about the current projects in flight.
People-related activities:
I’ll ensure to meet everyone in the company — my Manager, my Manager’s Manager, other PMs, Design Partners, Research Partners, Engineering Partners, Technical Project Manager Partners, Quality Assurance Partners, Data Science Partners, Marketing, PR (Public Relations), Sales, Support, Legal and Privacy, Policy, Operations.
Product-related activities:
I’ll get a personal experience of the product by using the product and learning as much about it, checking every flow, and screen.
I’ll make a journal of my experience using it and the questions I come up with. I’d also get an experience of competitor products, both locally and internationally, to compare and contrast.
I’ll talk to users and get their feedback on the product, as well as information on their challenges. I’ll reach out to support to interface with/listen to customers’ calls/complaints or feedback. I’d also reach out to them for help with a challenge experienced and see how long it takes them to respond, their tone and how helpful they were with their response.
I’ll familiarize myself with the processes at the company and how they work — how planning rollout works, how launch processes work, what needs review and what needs approval. Getting access to the company’s dashboard and tools is also not left out.
I’ll learn about how the marketing and positioning are done for the product. I’ll review the app store listing to assess how the product is doing.
Conclusion
You should be able to do these things in the first 1 month of joining the company. Excellent soft skills, a growth mindset and being proactive will help you get this done effortlessly.
Here’s a helpful post I wrote to help you write the best Product Roadmaps: Product roadmaps: What you need to know
