The lessons I learned in my first two months as a product manager
It’s been two months since I started my job as a product manager. While there have been ups and downs, I have gained a great deal of knowledge in these two months. Before I got the job, I was pretty confident I would turn things around, having thoroughly prepared myself by reading every prominent book about product management. Nevertheless, when I joined the company and started working with the stakeholders, I found the practical aspects of the job quite different from those listed in the popular books related to product development. This article will point out some of the key learnings I had in my first two months of working at a startup as a product manager.
Starting small: Normally, anyone who joins the product team intends to create a big change. It is common for them to spend the first few months of their time on big projects that can transform the current product. Nevertheless, they miss out on interacting with the other members of the team. Also, they keep their distance from small product defects since they seem unimportant. Nevertheless, by doing this, they lose the opportunity to learn the functioning of the current product and what it lacks in and what are burning issues need to be fixed. By starting small, they can interact with the team on things that matter. Therefore, get your scoreboard started and build confidence in your team by tackling smaller problems before moving on to bigger ones.
Developing an Open Mindset: Having an open-minded mindset will enable you to speak up more freely. Most of the time, new product managers feel that they do not know the product and that speaking up will expose their inexperience. They, however, miss out on the chance to be wrong and provide an insight that can only be seen through a different perspective. A person who has been working on the product for quite a while may make assumptions that are faulty to the new hire. By challenging the existing opinion, you will highlight their mistakes or correct your own assumptions about the product. Do not expect to be right, but instead ask questions rather than make statements about a product.
Over Communicate: In the beginning, you do not have a good rapport with the engineering and design teams. As a result, it is important that you over-communicate whatever you are planning on working on. As a result, this provides them with clarity about your vision for the product. If they feel there are assumptions you have that are not viable with the current setup, they may be able to correct you. It is also recommended that you communicate by writing instead of in person. If you set up too many meetings without moving the product forward, they will lose confidence and avoid attending future meetings.
Feedback rather than validation seeking: Everyone wants to have their work appreciated by others, leading to a desire to seek validation for their work. However, if someone brings up negative feedback about your idea, they get hurt. It is important to learn how to incorporate the feedback from those incidents into your product ideas rather than feeling bad about them. You should be more concerned with critiques of your work at the beginning of your career than praise for your work. Making mistakes is inevitable, but you should work on them as early in your career as possible.
Take the time to get to know your customers: A product that doesn’t ease the user’s job is doomed to failure. Make sure to think about any improvements or features the customer would like. Get in touch with them and let them know what you’re working on. You should seek customer feedback at the beginning of the project with the Minimum Viable Product instead of at the end. Ensure that whatever you are working on is aligned with the needs of your customers.
