3 Lessons Learned as a First-time Product Manager at Shopee
“Curiosity keeps leading us down new path” — Walt Disney
It has been almost 3 months since I’ve joined Shopee as a first-time product manager in the User Growth (Marketing) team. Coming from the business stakeholders side, I have always been curious about the product side and the complete thinking process behind each feature. Here are 3 lessons that I’ve gathered so far from my observations about myself and my environment.
Slow down to speed things up
As someone who has a strong urge to get things done, the natural inclination when things are not as expected is to jump straight into actions. The irony of what I’ve learned is to slow down to speed things up.
I see this as setting a paper boat downstream to a destination. You do not have an instructions manual you can follow.
In the case of a nagging deadline and pressure, you rush into folding something shaped like a paper boat. At the moment you are done, you drop it onto the water surface and expect it to flow and reach downstream safely without sinking or getting hit by rocks or disrupted by other fishes. In the process, feeling a lot of anxiety as you worry about retrieving the boat mid-way.
Then consider this scenario: You take a few more seconds to make sure that the folds are good and the workpiece you are building does not contain any loopholes and fulfils the objective of floating. Then you gently set the boat onto the water surface, check on the water speed and make sure the stream and the boat are ready to manage before letting your hand go. Otherwise, you continue to make whatever enhancements you need to be. Then when all is done, you can be certainly sure that the boat should reach somewhere near your destination.
Which scenario would you like to be in?
When comparing the scenario, you will notice that the 2nd scenario does not take too much time additional time and steps. The key difference lies in the first moment of reaction — the first few seconds to devote that time and energy into slowing down to think.
It is ideal for most roles and especially not as the Product Manager (PM) to be in the 2nd scenario. If the boat is your product feature and the flow is the work process, you would want to make sure that there are enough thoughts and checks being put in place to ensure you have certainty in solving the problem at its roots without having the anxiety and worry to do otherwise.
Some questions I learned to ask are:
- What is the magnitude of the impact of this unexpected issue?
- Who does this impact? (internal / external stakeholders)
- What are the things we need to do?
- Present info and updates to key stakeholders, what are the possible options we can do to move forward?
- Considering the time and energy needed for each solution, what can we do as a short-term and long-term plan?
- Make a note in the calendar or to-do lists to address the longer-term solution.
Piece things up
We do not forget those who protect and pick up your paper boat at the destination. How do you ensure that they know what and how to do with it?
The ability to create a sustainable support system and close the feedback loop is also key to ensure the longevity of what you set out to do and also the best use of your energy.
What I learned:
- Always start by being curious and ok with “I don’t know”s. By being open, you allow yourself to receive knowledge that you don’t know before. For example, a PM of a different team could share with you the best practices that you could adopt. A local team could share their struggles and their most pertinent struggles with the systems that you may not have considered before.
- There are many people who take high ownership of their work and are always willing to help. I won’t be able to know everything but by asking the right questions to the right people, more synergies can be created.
- Always make sure the product requirement document (PRD) is updated for that “one source of truth”. It contains simple language, clearly segmented sections dedicated to the various stakeholders, and in a consistent format. (I’m still figuring this out, if there are any tips you have, please let me know!)
Be Greater Together
What if right now, instead of building a paper boat to go downstream, you are asked to build a ship that can go into the sea with minimal knowledge?
Instead of working with your direct team, you have to work with 2 to 5 times more people? You can’t afford to have many people coming to ask you what the shape is, what are the materials and instructions on how to piece them together. Clear alignment of expectations of how the design and functionality become ever so important. Thereafter, it would be clear delegations and milestones check-ins with a complete checklist and tasklist.
Key takeaways:
- Always align the objective of your feature every single time. What are we here for and why is it so important. People tend to forget especially when they have multiple projects on hand and come from a different space.
- Do homework by asking for informal sessions and understand before the formal meeting to allow yourself to build the bigger picture to connect the dots for the various teams. This allows you a rough idea of the potential feasibility and dependencies cross-team.
- To make sure there is a key point of contact with the various workstreams and gather at various milestones to align progress.
- Acknowledging that in a team, there are bound to be disagreements to be managed because there’s where ideas get honed and refined.
Helping others and respecting one another’s boundaries gives rise to a more collaborative culture and lay the paths to bigger and better teamwork in the future.
These are little snippets of my lessons I have learned so far in my journey. It’s only just the beginning. There are still more gaps to be filled and I look forward to becoming better. If you have any thoughts to share, feel free to reach out.
PS: Shopee is still hiring now. You can check the openings here.
Disclaimer: These are my opinions from my personal experience and it may differ via different teams/functions/individuals/companies.
