My First year as a PM (Straight Out of College)
Dos and Don’ts from my Journey
It’s been one whole year since I started out as a product manager. July 10, 2017 was my first day of my first real job out of college. To say I was excited would be an understatement. After all, I’d finally graduated college, moved across the country, AND landed my dream job as a product manager. I had no idea that I was about to embark on one of the most challenging and enriching experiences of my short career.
From figuring out how to send a meeting invite on outlook to leading a feature idea through multiple iterations, I’ve come quite a way in my path so far. While I am nowhere close to knowing all the in-and-outs of product management, I did want to share some key learnings I’ve picked up in my experience.
DO get to know your colleagues. There is something to learn from each and every one of them. Some have been around to see the company evolve and can give you insights you would never have dreamed of. DON’T limit yourself to talking to people on your team or similar teams. Branch out, setup 1:1s with various people — you never know what you might learn.
DON’T eat lunch alone. This is the perfect time to get to know others and build relationships. This goes back to my earlier point about getting to know your co-workers. Lunch is the perfect time to casually get to know them. Ask questions about their career path or what type of products they work on to get a feel for their background.
DO form your own ideas and DON’T be shy of voicing them. Lots of people have lots of varied opinions. Sometimes they want to influence yours. Sometimes these people are above you on the totem pole. You were hired to think for yourself, so speak up when you feel strongly about something.
DON’T let Outlook overwhelm you. Yes, we all have a zillion meeting invites and unread messages. It happens. Do your best to answer the important ones in a timely manner and ignore those that don’t matter. As for meeting invites, its ok to decline meetings if you won’t contribute or learn anything new. Take ownership of your day and don’t let meetings or emails get in the way of getting your work done.
DO get to know your engineering partners really well. They are the ones who will have to actually implement anything you come up with so it’s important you have a good understanding with each other. They will also be able to provide you with some key insights you may not have thought of.
DO understand the organizational structure that exists within your team and company. Knowing which team does what will make it infinitely easier to hold a conversation when you meet a new PM who comes to you with a requirement.
DON’T be afraid to ask ‘dumb’ questions. We all have to start somewhere. As a new PM, it is expected of you to ask basic questions so eventually you can ask the smarter ones. There are also no such things as dumb questions when you’re just starting out. Remember this one before you waste hours trying to find an answer all alone.
DO clearly outline and define your roles and responsibilities with your manager and anyone you work with. Nothing’s worse than getting stuck with work you don’t think is part of your role. It also helps to have clear expectations so you can track your own progress.
DO explore various product management styles. There are different types of product managers. Some like to focus on execution, while others focus on customer discovery. Others are more people oriented and some like to spend a lot of time on deriving insights from data. DO explore all of these areas, and find what works well for you. A good product manager will have a bit of all these traits; a great PM will know when to wear which hat.
DON’T be afraid to call out people if they’re being uncooperative. Yes, it tough and can be awkward, but sometimes you just need to let people know so they can start to be helpful. There are elegant ways of doing this so you don’t damage any relationships in the process. Try a few different techniques and see what works for your personality.
DO learn how the tech stack works and get your hands dirty as much as you can. This will seriously come in handy when you speak with engineering partners and help you decipher what they say. Learn how to use any dashboards or analytics tools you have so at your next meeting you can back up your statements with data. Better yet, dig into the database and identify patterns/trends to really get an understanding for things.
DON’T let yourself be bogged down by tech maintenance or requirements coming from other teams. As a product manager your number 1 responsibility is to solve problems for your customer. Make sure you never stray from that goal and prioritize customers’ needs.
DO have a short-term and long-term roadmap planned out for your team. Of course, working in tech, these plans can rapidly change at moment’s notice. But simply having a plan will make it that much easier to manage timelines and expectations for projects happening in parallel. I like to have a plan for the next 2 sprints, 2 months, and 6 months.
DON’T be afraid to ask for time off (especially if you have unlimited PTO). Once I realized that the real world doesn’t have built in breaks like college, I knew I had to take charge of my time and ask for time off when I need it.
DO get involved in other programs and events happening in the company. In my first 6 months I created a group for new hires which allowed me to get to know different people and make connections that I still have today. I’ve now organized a PM bootcamp and product conference, both of which have given me a tremendous network and allowed me to learn other new skills (graphic design). Such events are amazing learning opportunities, so make the most of them!
For anyone starting out in product management straight out of college, I think it can be a bit daunting figuring out what you’re supposed to do. Being a PM is a role where you have to wear so many different hats and adapt to different environments it can be difficult to keep up. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort to learn, it’s a fantastic experience that will leave you with a deep understanding of how things work end to end. It has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences and I look forward to taking on year two as a PM.
