The Mistakes I made as a beginner Product Manager
#5: Didn’t cultivate a good working relationship with my boss
It was somewhere around June, 2019.
I was staring at the email on my computer screen.
It was from my boss.
It went something like, “I won’t allow you to schedule a 1:1 meeting with me until you have demonstrated sufficient progress on the tasks that were previously assigned to you.”
Now, I consider myself a tough guy. I have been battered with slippers/insults both at home and at college.
But getting blasted at the workplace was something new.
The email bruised my ego pretty badly. I stopped doing my job with full dedication. Subsequently, I made one mistake after another. My entire first year as a PM was pretty forgetful with lots of bad memories.
As I look back in hindsight, each of those mistakes could have been avoided had I objectively assessed my situation at a given point in time.
In the following paragraphs, I list down the key mistakes I made. If you too are making any of these mistakes, I advise you to course correct instead of learning it the hard way.
#1: I was not proactive in communicating critical information
The team would agree on a deadline.
The deadline would come and go. The project would still not be done. The boss would ask for an update. I would either give a vague response or sometimes not respond at all.
Result: It pissed of my boss and a general feeling settled that I was not serious about my responsibilities.
Key Takeaways
- As a PM, you need to be on top of all projects which you are driving. Start making noise well in advance if you see something getting delayed.(Pissed engineers or pissed boss — you make the choice)
- Keep a channel for constant communication open with your boss. Even if its bad news, convey it in advance. Also specify what you are going to do to fix it.
- Be guilty of over-communicating rather than under-communicating.
#2: I focused only on execution and never provided new ideas
I generally busied myself in solving bugs and other minor issues.
I used to pick something new only when instructions came from top. Neither did I proactively ask for work, nor did I have many interesting ideas.
Any ideas that I had usually fizzled out because I was unable to make a strong case for them.
Key Takeaways
- Be Proactive and not reactive: If you are given a system or a feature to manage, always keep racking up your brains on what improvements can be done. Talk to customers. Look up the competition. Be creative. Whatever good ideas you get, make sure to convey it to the higher-ups.
- Always ground your ideas in something concrete: It could be something quantitative (data) or qualitative (customer anecdotes).
- Seek continuous improvement: Whether its processes, analytics, delivery timeline or user experience, always focus on making things better.
#3: I did not build empathy for my engineers
I used to see engineers as people who missed deadlines and didn’t get things done on time. I didn’t try to understand their needs, desires and challenges.
Result: We ended up in an antagonistic relationship, playing the blame game on multiple occasions.
Key Takeaways
- Involve the Tech Leads at the time of project ideation. During every step, take them into confidence on what’s feasible and what’s not.
- Schedule regular 1:1 meetings with engineers to understand how you can help them do better.
- Support engineering in prioritising infrastructure improvements, integrating new code tools and resolving non-critical bug fixes.
#4: I did not focus on high leverage tasks
I was a sincere employee. I used to come on time. I used to stay till late. But there was one problem. I was mostly working on non-impactful things.
90% of my time was spent on fixing bugs, conveying information and running after people. Thus, I was almost left with no time for deep work.
Result: I did not create any impact as a product manager.
Key Takeaways
- You will be solely judged on the basis of the impact you make on your product/feature. Never forget that.
- Make sure you are mostly working on things which help your product/feature become significantly better than what it currently is.
- While bugs/issues are unavoidable, make sure you are not caught in a vicious web where it become impossible for you to work on strategic items.
#5: I didn’t cultivate a good relationship with my boss
I never made an attempt to be in the good books of my boss.
In fact, I was making every effort to get into the bad books.
I would not respond to their queries quick enough. I would never show any proactiveness. I never took initiative. I never spoke up.
Key Takeaways
- Exceed the expectations of your boss: If you have to do X, try doing X + a, instead of just doing X - a. This will help build trust with your boss and convince them that you can deliver.
- Don’t take it personally: Your boss will say things at times which might be unpleasant to hear. If you make everything an ego battle, you would always be frustrated.
- When your boss tells you to do something, take it on very high priority. Show them that this is as important to you as it is to them.
#6: I didn’t focus on improving my product management skills
During my first year, I barely read any blogs/newsletters/books on product management, strategy or business. I rarely made any effort to implement the good stuff I read about.
I didn’t bother to have conversations with experienced Product Managers on how to improve in my craft.
Result: I never consciously improved my skills or abilities as a PM. I remained where I had begun.
Key Takeaways
- Read. Internalize. And implement.
- Talk to PMs in your company and outside your company. Learn what works for them, what doesn’t work for them.
- Give back to the PM community. Help other PMs. Mentoring others motivates you to become better at your own craft.
Blaming a bad boss or company for everything wrong with your professional life is the easy way out. As a PM, you will be better served if you take full ownership of what happens to you.
Never be satisfied with the status quo and always strive to change things for the better.
