My Lessons and Reflections As a Product Manager at Kargo

For almost two years, I have been fortunate enough to work with the awesome product and business team at Kargo. As I reflect on the works and interactions with the people here, I can’t help but feel proud to be a part of this team. Not only of the accomplishments we achieved but, most importantly, the learnings that I got — those I won’t ever take for granted.

In this post, I’ll be sharing my learnings as a PM at Kargo. The principles that I write as a reflective piece for myself, for my fellow colleague, and for you. As a PM, it is very easy to get winded by the sheer amount of articles and essays out there. I could only hope mine can give you newer perspectives.

Lesson #1: Work and write backwards from the vision

One of the very first things Kargo product managers should do, after immersing themselves in user problems and insights, is to write a PRFAQ. A two-part document which stands for Press Release and Frequently-Asked-Questions, which we adopted from Amazon’s product development culture.

“Writing clarifies thinking” — Rangga, my manager and a friend

If the PM has all the resources in the world, what would they build to make a meaningful impact on our customers in the next 3–5 years? How would they tell the story to the world?

Instead of working forward (building your first solution, then figuring out what’s next), this exercise allows us to think from the end goal so that we know what to build in phases. It also helps us to clarify our thinking and narrative, connecting the dots in the most sensible way for better decision making.

While this sounds like a solution-centric approach (which PMs should not be doing), it is inherently not. Writing PRFAQ helps us to:

• Start from the vision, instead of the specific problems in front of us
• Understand the users and their pain points — — which will be reflected in the Press Release storytelling part
• Putting ourselves in customer shoes — — which is reflected in the customer FAQs
• Understand the phases and evolution of the product
• Figure out the strategy, technical challenge, risks, timeline, to go-to-market all in one centralized document

Not only those but writing backwards with PRFAQ has helped me to stay on track, have a vivid goal and know what’s the most important for the company and the users.

You can see Kargo’s approach to PRFAQ here

Lesson #2: Over-communicate

Every time someone asks me what skills they need to develop as a PM, my top answer would always be the same — Over-communicate. As much as I stress the importance of over-communicating with the team (Squad’s product designer, engineer), it is equally important to over-communicate vertically (managers, leaders and stakeholders) and horizontally (fellow PMs, tech leads).

I have personally learned this lesson a hard way — misalignment, missed targets, delayed timeline is all the fruit of under communication. Looking back, if only I could just tell my old self “Hey, just communicate early and often”, the majority of problems at work could probably be solved!

Here are some actionable tips that we do at Kargo to over-communicate:

• Write before you communicate - It is easy to lose your train of thoughts when communicating verbally. Having to write and let your audience pre-reads helps you clarify your thinking
• Communicate to discuss, not to perform - a common pitfall to effective communication is the mindset of “I have to convey my message perfectly” especially when communicating up — a one-way communication. Instead of performing, frame your mindset to seek an understanding and to unblock situations. Ask questions, get two-way.
• Set a repeated cadence - it is “over” communicate after all

Read Luthfi’s take, our product designer, on the importance of over-communication for designers in this post.

Lesson #3: Sometimes the best product is no product

No user has real intent to actually use a product, or buy a software as their main goal. What user wants is to solve their itching problems. Customers don’t care about your product, they just want you to get things done for them and help achieve their goals. A product is the means, not an end.

The phrase “the best product is no product” has helped me rethink how a product should get built. Let’s put it this way — If a user has tons of product options in the market, then I am certain that she will choose the product that helps her achieve her goal with the least time, least social cost, least financial cost, and least effort (both mentally and physically).

Example of mentally challenging feature. More often than not, frictioning the users from their goal

With this mindset, PM can focus more on the outcome of solving user problems, rather than the outputs.

“By looking at problems in a solution-neutral way, teams can consider the ideal state — a hypothetical, imaginary and perfect experience that is free of constraints, compromises and contradictions.” — Clayton Christensen

I have learned this the hard way as well. Introducing products with unnecessary features and flows, just to see them become untouched by our shippers. I have learned the importance to focus on framing problems long before even thinking about the solution.

While there are tons of lessons during my tenure at Kargo, these three are the ones that have shaped me into a better product manager. I hope this piece brings a unique perspective and helps you become better too!

If you enjoy my writing and would like to discuss it more, feel free to reach out to me

Special thanks to Rangga for proof-reading this doc!