First Steps Into Product Management
Follow-up to Should I Become a Product Manager?
Just start practicing. Already in your current job, experiment and make proposals for roadmap changes, features or UI designs, do it. Go beyond asking for features, anyone can do that and it’s possibly already know. You should argument with a clear problem identification, a proposed solution and expected benefits. Be specific: document your demands, add wireframes and make prototypes.
If you can’t do it in your current position, experiment on your own. You can go beyond your company’s features, pick anything, really. I do that with the tools I use on a daily basis, like Notion, Jira, macOS, etc.
Something you don’t like in LinkedIn or Gmail? Try to make it better as if it was your job: describe the annoyance or the improvement idea, how often it happens, and how it impacts your workflow. Articulate the the solution, make a wireframe or a design and share it with a couple of people to get feedback. Then send it to the makers of the software. It may be lost in a feedback mailbox, or it may delight/annoy greatly the product team there. You can also post your experiments on a blog.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get feedback. If you don’t get any answers, it’s no big deal. Keep at it and you will notice how you it gets easier and more fun. You will also discover methods, tools and routines for doing each steps. But keep practicing. It’s a skill, you can improve by learning and exercising, it’s not some magical talent, nor a gift.
Let me know if you already think of some things that you can make better.
