I am currently working with Chingari, a web3 short video video app from India which is being used by people from across the globe. Prior to this I have been with different B2C & B2B companies in different product roles primarily as an IC.
In my stint here at Chingari, I have started managing a team of Product Managers. I see some people shining from their initial days while some people find it difficult to make an impact. I have done a lot of mistakes in my initial days and now I have some clarity on how PMs can shine. The people who are shining have some very visible traits which I think can help new PMs differentiate themselves from others.
Who should read this ? - For people who are early in their careers (less than 3-4 years of experience). There is no new advice here. Most of this can be find split over multiple articles, videos, blogs etc. IMO this should be applicable to all PMs but more to B2C PMs.
- Customer Backwards - This is one of the famous leadership principles of Amazon and I couldn't agree more. Most of the people start jumping to solutions when they are presented with a problem. Good PMs take a step back, try to understand what's the real problem, always keep their user personas in their mind, remove any self bias or possible biases presented by data then work backwards to come up with one of multiple solutions.
- Do whatever is necessary - They don't shy away from doing anything. In my journey I have seen PMs do all the things which they are not supposed to do(traditionally, but they end up doing it some/most of the times). Be it doing some design updates on the fly, writing queries to get data, writing marketing copies etc. If there is a roadblock, either get it removed or remove it yourself. They escalate. They cajole. They motivate.
- Prioritisation - This has been one of difficult areas for me in initial days. A good PM knows which feature can cause a short term impact with minimal efforts and which ones are important for long run. They say no to a lot of ideas (which keeps coming from everywhere) without hurting anyone. If they don't say no, they learn to say : " I am adding this to the backlog. We will revisit this and prioritise as per the impact."
- Balancing - A good PM can work with anyone on the team to stop them from overdoing things. They won't t let designers go down a rabbit hole which is not required. They will work with developers so as not to waste their efforts on building something which is too costly and will not be justifiable from an impact perspective. They don't micromanage the developers but they are always in touch with their developers are aware of their progress/roadblocks.
- Impact Measurement - Very often I have seen people releasing a lot of items regularly. But if you ask them at the end of the quarter or an year about the impact they have created - they will be clueless. In my earlier days, I was guilty of this. But soon I realised, it is not helping me in anyway.
A good PM defines the current scenario, goal, measurement and A/B plans and future versions of any project he start working on.
They measure the impact, publish it to the stakeholders/management and keep a track of it.
6. Design - Even if they can't design, they understand what is happening in the industry, what will work with their user persona(mostly gut feeling, but they are generally more right than wrong). They are able to convince stakeholders why a particular thing will work or not citing from past experiences, personal anecdotes or an example in the industry.
- Story Telling : This is a skill which would work in any part of your life but more so in the field of product management. They will tell a story on which everyone can believe in. They will bring relatable examples and data as required in any situation. They will get everyone aligned with the story. They simplify the WHY's and WHAT's to everyone.
- Establish authority and trust : They develop skills and understanding in their field which is irrefutable. People start looking upto them for the insights they carry. They develop relationships with everyone. They get everyone on their team make everyone a friend and supporter.
- Deep thinking: They start becoming a deep thinker and don't let their thoughts be constrained by what they can see. They start to think about whats actually important and bring in ideas/insights to have massive impact. They work from first principles.
This in no way is the exhaustive list and there is a lot of things which I have missed. In my honest opinion (IMHO), this could be a good start which PMs should not miss in their early days.