How to become the most beloved Product Manager in your company?

Well first getting a job as a Product Manager is itself difficult, but now once you get it, you’ve to work hard to gain trust among your peers and create an impact. Working with different skill sets of people is not a piece of cake, you’ve to speak the language of sometimes designer, developer, sales, marketing, and whatnot.

YES YES YES

Now, as a PM you’ll work with a lot of people, and you have to be good at collaboration and communication, A few tips that I did that helped me, might help others as well (Read till the end):

1. Disturb people at any time

As a busy person with tons to do, waiting around for the others (whether s/he’s an engineer/designer or any other stake)to finish their job isn’t the best plan. Your stuff matters more than whatever they’re working on. So, go ahead, and do your thing first. You’ve got options — send a message, make a call — just get your work sorted.

2. Keep the why a secret

You don’t always have to spill the beans on why you’re building something. If you do, get ready for a flood of questions that could sidetrack you from the task at hand. Sometimes, it’s best to keep the ‘why’ to yourself and keep your engineers focused on the job.

3. Grab the spotlight

You own the idea and when it’s launched and it’s successful, you own it remember that. When senior management praises the team, grab that credit because it’s like gold for your career. Step forward, shine bright, and soak up the acknowledgment you deserve.

4. Take ownership end to end

As a product manager, you own the product end to end, you can give estimates and make promises on behalf of your team. Don’t expect a timeline from the engineering part, else give them deadlines. You can share those timelines with senior management, this fosters character growth and brings out the best in individuals.

5. Be Smart and delegate

Don’t involve engineers early, they’re known for coding, so let them do that. Depending upon the situation, change your strategy. Sometimes when things don’t go as planned, if blame comes to you, deflect it towards the engineers, it’s their responsibility to make the product robust. By learning this art, you’ll learn how to delegate and keep the focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on who’s at fault. For example, while discussing a new idea, bring limited folks across the teams, smaller the people, and it is easier for you to take your idea forward.

Wake Up

If it isn’t obvious by now — avoid doing any of the above things.

WAKE UP !!!!

So, now you know that if you do any of these things, nobody will like you, and you’ll fail as a PM. But hey, we all make mistakes sometimes, right? So, try to avoid them because they can harm good relationships. As a PM, it’s crucial to keep the team on the same page about what’s coming next and why we’re doing it. Everyone should be involved in each step. From my experience, engineers are great at spotting problems, so brainstorm and talk things through together.

It’s also important to build personal connections outside of work. When you have that bond, your team will support you through product development, reducing any potential conflicts. Leading with understanding and kindness is key to working well together.

Show empathy towards your team and watch your product career flourish.

I hope you enjoyed the article, if you did please do HIT the claps 50 times, and would love to know how you manage your career as a PM, drop it in the comments😎. LinkedIn Say👋