Congratulations you are starting a new role in Product Management!
Whether you are a junior or a CPO you can take the bones of this and use it to onboard yourself or use this as inspo to improve the onboarding for your new team members.
I have been in Product Management for 12+ years, from being a Product Manager all the way to becoming a VP of Product. Most of my experience are in high-growth startups you need that entrepreneurial spirit to get shit done and from making your own goals, plans, to even your own guardrails.
From leading my own little product tech squad, to leading teams from research, data, UX, PM, to engineering of 80+ people worldwide from US to Asia Pacific.
I have worked at a few different startups, from seed stage to unicorn, so I've done my fair share of trial and error on onboarding new hires and onboarding myself.
A huge advantage of being new, regardless of what level your are at your career, is it the best time to ask stupid questions. and I mean stupid-basic-as-fuck questions. Better look dumb now so you don't stay dumb later.
My objective is that by the end of the first month I can effectively lead my team, this means gaining enough knowledge and trust. Because even though the startup gurus say you need effectively need 6 months to really get the grip on your role as a PM, do you really think these startups have the luxury of time? These companies live in dog years, 6 months is life or death, so be realistic of what you are getting into.
Here are the things that matter:
Know your user
Know your partners
Know the business
Know the market
Know your user
Why is this number one? Because without real understanding about your users you will be a pushover (aka you will become a feature request manager, not a product manager) and make stupid decisions. You cannot be an effective, yet alone a great, product person, no matter what your role - design / analytics / research / manager / ops / etc.., if you don't know the user like they are your bestie.
How:
TALK TO USERS, real users, not your friends that say would purchase. Nothing can replace this. I suggest to prioritize the golden users, the ones who love your product, who keep coming back or gave 5 star reviews. Ask them for a coffee chat, pay them for their time or for the more affluent customers try offering to donate money on their behalf for 30 mins of their time. In the beginning of my career when user research wasn't really a thing I had to pay users out of my own pocket but it always paid back tenfold. Despite the difficulties, there will always be a golden user that is willing to talk to you because they love your product that much. Don't send some silly survey, you need to really understand the motivation & challenges of a few gold users, no use getting a half-ass understanding of 100 users through a survey. Remember this is key to your success, really understanding the person you are creating for, don't cut corners.
Become BFFs with the customer service team; Shadow them, best if you can ask to do their job for at least a day
Shadow sales / marketing if you can to understand what has worked so far and what has flopped
Pick the past research studies apart, then book time to pick the brain of your researchers. Don't ask lazy questions or criticize their work, do the work first and gobble up the documents and ask them follow up questions or even what they believe is the most underrated piece of insight that has been found so far, why.
Do the same for the all the past analysis your can get your hands on then talk to the data team. These don't only give you insight to users, this also give you insight to the questions your peers are curious about.
Trust me, this is the most important thing to get right. I'd rather have my PM fail on delivery with the engineering team (because that requires relationship building which takes time) vs at the end of the first month knowing fuck-shit about the user they are supposed to be building for and then wasting everyone's time and money with half-baked solutions.
Know your partners
This means anyone from your own product & engineering team to what people call 'stakeholders' like marketing, operations, to senior management. The goal here is not to schmooze, we hate ass lickers. The goal is to understand their goals! read that again. The goal is to understand their goals.
Yes, treat them like they are your users also. Understand their motivations, their KPIs, why they do things - what they do - how they do it. All of it. You cannot influence someone you don't know. And a key skill in product is the ability to influence people without authority. Knowing the person you are trying to influence is the foundation.
How:
Literally set up intro meetings, take their time, if they decline keep at it. You need to build that relationship one way or another.
Ask for their KPIs & objectives of the quarter / year, whatever you can get. If they dont have it, ask their manager or even HR. Ask. Ask. Ask. But they are going to think "who do you think you are you junior PM asking me to waste my time and hand you shit", remember there is an art in this craft, make it clear they know why you are doing this, so you can work together more effectively. Don't make promises you can't keep though. Building that relationship it is key if you don't want to spend 80% of your energy bickering and figuring out how to respond to weird feature ideas. You need to know them well enough to understand their what, how, and why.
Know the business
What does your company do? How do they do it? Knowing this is key to finding solutions that is within the scope or aligned with the vision of the company your work for. This is key to getting support on your ideas and making sure they are feasible ideas in the first place.
How:
Shadow operations team
Understand the profit margins, where do they actually make money, how many income streams do they have
What is the cost to deliver the value to the customer. You might even find opportunities to optimize cost
Ask senior management what is the next market they want to unlock, why. What is this years business objectives, why.
Know the market
Once you know the user, your partners, the business. You are getting really close to deciding on the next innovation that will propel your product offerings. So its obvious you gotta know whats our there to help position your product.
How:
Competitive landscape analysis
Sign up to all the closest competitors, hell buy their products if you can get the budget or afford from your own pocket. Fully understand what they have to offer and where the gap is in the market
You may think, woaah thats a lot to learn. Is it even my job to know all that? Believe me, it is. You wont be effective without this. Make sure you keep your manager in the loop of your onboarding plan and get input, a good manager will guide you to find who to talk to and where to go, identify your allies early and how to win over those who are a bit more stubborn.
All the best and happy to take any thoughts and questions!
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