Breaking into product management
Recently, many young and energetic freshers reached out to me for breaking into product management. In my early startup days, I did product management without knowing product management. I was doing the things a typical product manager would do. Later with a lot of research and online courses, I found my forte. So, I would like to list down the things for the freshers in this post, I believe it will help a lot of you!
1. Gain knowledge from surroundings: Continuously explore new products to learn how they work, and why certain features are incorporated on websites or apps. For example in my real life, back in my university days, I would always explore new websites and apps to know how things worked, and why those things (read features) were put on the website or the app.
2. Read product reviews online: What are the users saying? What do they want? What did they like? What they did not like? People tend to write about negative things most, so grab those comments. Was it their pain point or frustration? Understand user POV.
3. Develop soft skills: Product managers definitely need strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. Practice these skills by working on group projects, leading teams, and engaging with people from different backgrounds. In my case, I was working with a talented bunch of people from Mozilla from 2013/2014. I learnt a lot of tools and processes which I could use in 2017 and so on!
4. Start by working in a startup or establishing your own, as it allows you to witness its growth from scratch and learn from both its failures and successes. You’ll also get to keep in touch with the first customers who believed in you! For example, we built Royalty
5. Don’t do expensive certified courses: There is always more to learn, and while the courses might appear daunting, particularly after five years of product management, trust me when I say that there is still much more to explore. Do these when you are ready. You will be able to relate while you are going through the modules.
Remember that the journey may take time, but it will be worth it in the end. I would love to share more product management experiences in the upcoming days! Hope you liked my tips!
____________________________________________________________________
Product Management Series by Tanha Islam // Part 1 — Breaking into Product Management
