Empowering First Time Product Managers
How to give first time product managers the best start
We need to give first time product managers the best start — one that provides them with ample opportunity to learn and grow into the great product managers they expect to become. Here are 3 ways we can start empowering first time product managers.
Give them a problem
Often, first time product managers are asked to shadow a more experienced PM. But they can often get stuck in the delivery phase of Product Management, with little understanding for why the product is being shipped in the first place. What problem does this solve for the business? What value will it deliver for the end user? How did we come to this solution? Without the right context, junior PMs will have little appreciation for (and commitment to) why the product is being delivered in the first place.
Instead, first time product managers should be given a small business problem to solve and a product team they can work with to solve this problem. Although not feasible for all companies, there are many benefits to this approach. Firstly, junior PMs start at the beginning of the track. They have the chance to explore the problem space themselves by talking to users and analysing data to understand the size of the problem and opportunity at hand. Once the problem has been defined, they’ll move on to work with designers and engineers to come up with the right solution together.
This sequence is important for empowering first time product managers. Firstly, they’re able to follow and experience the steps of the product life cycle and learn as soon as possible how and why their role exists. It also gives them the opportunity to start building their own relationships with the product team and understand how designers, developers and product managers work together to ship a product. All of this is key to empowering first time product managers because it ensures the first time PM understands their role, develops their own relationships and assumes responsibility over a product early on.
Be a guide
When first time product managers are given their own problem to tackle, with their own team, where possible their seniors should try and assume a position of support, being there to guide the junior PM through the shipping of their first product, rather than trying to lead by example. There are a number of reasons why this works best for empowering first time product managers.
Firstly, it means the junior PM assumes the position of authority, being the point of contact on projects as opposed to listening in the background. This empowers first time product managers with a voice and the opportunity to start making decisions. All of this helps them to establish themselves as a valuable member of the product team and come face to face with the challenges of the role.
When seniors product members empower first time product managers in this way, it also benefits the wider team. It becomes clear what responsibilities lie with which PM and it more obvious to the product team how they can best support their new team member. As a result, the wider product team steps in to up skill and educate their new team member to ensure the whole team is set up for and working towards success. The first time product manager is now learning more about their product and its technology directly from their product team, empowering them with the knowledge they need to prioritise a roadmap and manage stakeholders in the future.
To this end, the first time product manager can also turn to the senior product manager for support in times of ambiguity, uncertainty or even stress. Having an experienced product manager close by, who has more product and business experience ensures the first time product manager has all the resources available to them to learn and grow. This abundance of support and knowledge empowers the first time product manager during this steep learning curve and also creates a better working relationship with their senior.
Let them fail
It can be tempting to protect first time product managers from the inevitable first time product manager pitfalls we’ve all experienced, but this does the opposite of empowering first time product managers and can hinder their rate of learning and subsequent progress.
When we protect junior PMs from failure they not only take longer to appreciate what and how things can go wrong throughout the product development process, but they also miss opportunities to start developing their own ways of tackling or avoiding problems in the future. If they’re not managing stakeholders directly, how will they ever appreciate the importance of saying no? If they’re not working directly with engineers, how will they develop technical confidence or learn when is the right time to bring them in?
Instead, in order to empower first time product managers we need to give them a safe space to make mistakes during their first year in product. They need to know that failure comes in various forms for product managers and that these moments provide them with essential learnings for future products they will help to ship. By setting this expectation, first time product managers are not held back by the fear of failure and are more proactive - taking ownership and control of the (hopefully) low risk product or feature they’ve now been asked to manage.
By welcoming mistakes and reminding product managers that failure is a shortcut to deeper product experience and knowledge, we empower them with confidence and courage that will eventually see them take on more ambiguous and risky projects in the future.
First time product managers go through a steep learning curve but should emerge from their first year in product with a sense of purpose, achievement and satisfaction. By empowering junior PMs with a problem to solve, the right amount of support and a safe space to fail, we ensure they get the knowledge, experience and confidence that will set them on the path to product manager success.
