The 3 Contexts. A way to get set up in a new product job quickly.

Inspired by Alex Ferguson.

Disclaimer: I am not a Manchester United fan, but I do admire their late manager Alex Ferguson’s turn of phrase.

I can relate in particular to the maxim ‘squeaky bum time’ to characterize the feeling of starting on a new product, or in a new product job. It refers to the sound of someone shifting uneasily on a plastic chair as the pressure mounts. Probably this applies to any job to be honest.

The trouble with starting in a new product job is that all the experience that got you there doesn’t matter much. Whether you have a quiver of frameworks to adapt to all scenarios, or are just starting out, one activity has to come first.

You have to figure out the context.

Figure it out fast. It’s the best way to get the experience you have today - no matter how much or little you have - to help you figure out what the right thing to build is. Then you can share it in a credible way with your stakeholders and your team. It’s the bedrock to your ongoing success in understanding cost, trade-offs, prioritization and value for the company.

Here’s a method that I use to get the context as quickly as possible.

I was lucky to spend time with Rich Mironov a few years ago, and his view of a product manager’s skill set is useful to help me frame this.

Simplifying somewhat, a successful product manager needs to be able to understand the business, insights about the product and users, and the tech that their product is built with.?What this gets you is the ability to represent and frame your customers, your business and what can be built effectively, so you can deliver a successful product.

These areas are all equally stacked in terms of importance and priority. Perhaps your skills will naturally weight towards one or the other (I bias towards understanding data and business context faster than the tech). Sometimes the business will have far more context on one or another aspect (for example a startup might not have years of user research and clearly defined metrics, but you might be able to very quickly grasp the tech, and talk directly to a customer.)

At some of the points you’ll have a natural advantage - capitalize on it. At other points you will need help, and finding that help is critical to your success. Focus on finding it.

Regardless, it’s vital to start to build a picture of all three so that you can create your context. Focusing on just one or two areas will create imbalance in your understanding of the area you are working in. Often this leads to technical solutions for no business problem, or a product vision that is entirely unachievable, or that doesn’t reflect the real world needs of a user.

I think this is a good way to think about your situation as a new PM in a new domain as being at the centre of a pyramid where it’s vital to have coverage of all three points to maximise success.

The trick is to find ways to move quickly in forming this context. Everyone’s different, but I thought I’d share some of the ways that have worked for me over the next few posts.

Why do it this way?

For me my goal has been to get to a point where I can begin to talk coherently about the product or problem space that I have been asked to work on. I find it super stressful to just ‘run’ at a problem, so like to break it down. In other words, I’m trying to minimize the level of ‘squeaky bum time’ as much as possible.

Why might this be useful for you? It can probably save you time, make you less stressed, and gets you to a point where you can create impact sooner.

1. By quickly understanding the essentials of the business, you can have more effective discussions with stakeholders earlier, and ask the right questions. You can also start to shape the business context to the team you’re working with.
2. By digging into the data, you get a sense of what is going on right now, and where opportunities and risks might be. You can perhaps prioritize some aspects of your work to address burning issues, and also qualify some of the assumptions you’re making, and create new hypotheses. This starts to form the beginning of a prioritized backlog, if there’s none at all.
3. By understanding the tech, you start to get an idea of what is really possible, where you are healthy, and where you need to invest more. You also build relationships with your engineering team, and build an engineering / product partnership.?Most importantly you begin to honestly represent the state of our tech to the rest of the business.

As with all product methodology, this is at best some guiding pointers. Your own context, your specific skills and experience, and the people and product you are working with will shape this substantially. But?this should help you manage the pressure, and get on your way to shipping something great.

This is the first, introductory piece looking at ways you can onboard quickly and effectively to a new product job. If you want to read them all in one go, here are links to detailed posts about the 3 different contexts:

The 3 Contexts. A way to get set up in a new product job quickly. Part 1: Business

The 3 Contexts. A way to get set up in a new product job quickly. Part 2: Data

The 3 Contexts. A way to get set up in a new product job quickly. Part 3: Tech

Also please get in touch if you have questions, suggestions on what to talk about next, or want to ask a specific question.