Your First 90 Days as the ONLY Product Manager

Establishing yourself & your product function in the first 90 days

Mature product organizations have it easier than their newbie counterparts. Established product organizations have a semblance of a framework, established value for product, a support structure for new product persons joining, and product mentorship.

However, as the ONLY product manager in an organization, you have a lot of responsibilities. You have to establish the product function, differentiate yourself from a project manager (common confusion), and create order in chaos.

Chances are, you’re joining a nascent organization with a few product evangelists (people who know or believe in the value of a product function).

You have also their hopes and their expectations to manage.

I’ve been in that role a fair few times. And I’ve made mistakes. And I’ve learned. The biggest learning is that you NEED to have a structure. If you do not rely on your structure, you’ll be blowing like a leaf in a hurricane.

So what do the first 90 days look like, you ask?

Well, before we go there, understand one important thing — as the ONLY product person, you’ll be stressed. You’ll need to keep your mind agile and switching…