Having become the only Product Manager in a startup for over a year now, I’ve had to do a fair bit of reading and self-learning along the way. I’ve somehow come to find that some of the guiding principles of being PM, are not just principles on how to PM, but rather how to live life in general. Here I’m sharing 4 of the key principles I roll with.
Begin with the end in mind
Famously talked about in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, beginning with the end in mind is all about framing everything we do, every decision we make every day, around the image we have for the final state of life. For our product team, this could be the mission of the company, or the product vision for the next few years. On a more micro level, this could be it in a sprint or feature planning.
I then asked myself —
- What is my personal mission, and what are my values? How do I see my loved ones speaking of me at their eulogy on my deathbed? How will I be impacting the people around me and my society 20 years from now? What about 5 years? 1 year? Tomorrow? (Desired outcome)
- What do I need to do starting from right now, and which is aligned with my values, to reach the ideal state my own self? (Action required) —
Finish writing this article could possibly be it.
Communication is everything
Our product team is currently 14 people strong —Engineers, designers, and myself included. Still sounds pretty manageable, I’d say. Now let me just add the extra fun fact that all of us work from 4 different countries in total. (7 different locations, to be more specific.)
How the heck does a Product team run effectively when everyone’s located at different locations?
Effective communication is everything.
Here are some of my values shaped with regards to meaningful communication, which can be applied both at work and life in general:
- Have feelings about something that others need to know? Say it out, rather than keep it inside.
- Have feedback for someone? Give it to them directly, rather than gossip with others. Also, be radically candid about it.
- Have questions about something? Ask, and you’ll learn something for sure.
- Intending to stay deeply connected? Check in frequently, show that you care.
- Having a conflict with someone? Resolve it before the end of day, staying radically open-minded.
Be radically open-minded
A point that is fundamental to having effective two-way communication, I’ve come to learn this term from Ray Dalio’s book Principles. My understanding of being radically open-minded as a principle for success means being open to debate and thoughtful disagreement.
“Thoughtful disagreement is not a battle; its goal is not to convince the other party that he or she is wrong and you are right, but to find out what is true and what to do about it.” — Ray Dalio
I’ve found this extremely useful in work as a Product Manager, as discussions are ongoing daily about current and future sprints, what the best solution to a particular problem is, or where the biggest opportunities lie. I’m a believer of listening to what others have to say and taking them seriously — that might possibly be our next million dollar idea.
Similarly in life, everyone walks a different path than I do in one way or another. What this also means to me is that they’re most likely better than me at something, and know something that I don’t. What if I could “hack” my way to skipping some of the failures simply by learning from the others instead who have already been there and made those mistakes?
Prioritise ruthlessly
You may or may not have heard that one of the greatest challenges of being Product Manager is saying “No” to almost every good idea that gets raised to you. It’s always tough knowing that someone cared enough to share this idea to you (which you also think is great), with the hopes that their idea would be not just be implemented, but done so immediately. In an ideal world with unlimited resources (time, manpower, money, etc.), I would love to do it.
I believe I speak not just for myself, but for the whole Product Manager population in the world, that no one loves rejecting a seemingly great idea. You could, technically, do a quick prototype and test it without actually building anything. That’ll probably also need to be queued among your already-long list of things to do.
(On this note, I would just like to clarify that nothing is an absolute no, it’s just a no, for now — unless proven it’s a really big opportunity we’d be dumb not do pursue.)
We only have $x amount of money in our bank accounts. In our lives we only have 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours in a day. Last of all, there is only 1 us in our own life.
You can do anything, but you cannot do everything.
Should I head out for a drink with friends, or stay home and recuperate from the long tiring day? Go for that outing with colleagues, or the family gathering? Work 12 hours a day earning big bucks, or at a smaller firm with a more fulfilling job and more time to spend with my loved ones?
It is therefore imperative that we stay mindful on the things decisions we choose to make, if they are:
- Aligned with our mission, values and desired outcome; (Begin with the end in mind)
- happening with meaningful, quality interactions with the people involved; (Effective communication)
- while staying open to debates and opposing ideas from mine; (Be radically open-minded)
- given the amount of resources that we currently have. (Ruthless prioritisation)
Having a clear view of who I am and what I want to achieve, is now helping me to make better decisions every day and ultimately making me a better version of myself than I was the day before. 🙂
