My first six months at eFuse

I also published this on my blog because that's a thing I do now ??

I originally started this post as "The First 90 Days" and it was going to be.. well, just after my first 90 days at eFuse. Why didn't I post it then? Fear. I wasn't sure anyone cared about the words I wrote so I stopped. So I'm rejigging the post, it's not going to be perfectly eloquent but it will be unashamedly me. Here's my last six months at eFuse and my first six months in a new role and a new career.

So first off, level set. I swear like an absolute fucking trooper, mate. If that's not the bueno (as the kids say), you might want to go check out this website instead. Okay with it? Let's get in to it.

Back in early 2020, I was preparing to leave GoCardless to make the move to Berlin to join GetYourGuide. I was recommended a book by Punit who was my manager at that time—that book was The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins.

This was a book I had never considered reading before (mainly because I hadn't even heard of it) but I took the advice onboard and checked it out. Looking back, it completely reframed the way I consider onboarding at a new company and played a big part in some of the success I have achieved over the last two years.

It's now been six months since I joined eFuse as a product manager after they acquired Clippy, the product I had originally founded to empower content creators.

?? New beginnings

October 1st was my official first day at eFuse and we were launching the new version of?Clippy on eFuse on October 5th. Nowt like jumping right in the deep end, right?

This was always going to be a weird start at the company. Far too many firsts for it to not be. It was my first time starting a role as a product manager, I'd never worked in the esports industry and whilst this is the third time I'd started remotely, I'd never worked full remotely. Up until this point, I had always said I would never work entirely remotely because well... fuck that shit, I like being around people.

So my first few weeks were very much full of "what the fuck am I doing here?". I found myself in a very vulnerable position and completely outside of my comfort zone. I loved every moment of it.

I was effectively a wandering toddler who just woke up from nap time when it came to working in a product team. I didn't really know what I was doing but I was excited to figure it out.

Thankfully, I work with some bloody brilliant people who really define the ELITE attitude. Without the support of my team at eFuse, I would probably have ran head first in to a door like an errant toddler. Incidentally, I did do that as child and have the forehead dent as evidence. So really, shoutout to my colleagues for being fantastic babysitters? Hit me up for a pint if you want evidence ??

I would never have made it beyond the first 3 weeks without that help.

?? Finding the rhythm

Looking back, those first few weeks really were a blur. It felt like when you're building a hefty Lego set (I got some new Lego for Christmas, can you tell?). You're building all these small disjointed pieces that don't seem to go together in any way that makes sense and then you get to that one piece... and it just clicks (pun thoroughly intended). Suddenly, all those disjointed pieces form one cohesive part of the set and I'm sat there like "well shit, how the fuck did I not see that before?".

Finding the rhythm for me meant moving beyond that initial vulnerability and becoming a little more ingrained in the day to day. As I said previously, more things just started to click. Metrics were moving in the right direction, which is to say, up. My team had set OKRs at the beginning of the quarter and we were making good progress on them.

The validation that I was starting to head in the right direction was becoming clearer every day. Did I know everything I needed to? Fuck no. Did I still make a bunch of mistakes? Yes. Was I learning from those mistakes? Also yes.

December rolled around and I flew out to Columbus to meet my colleagues in-person for the first time. 11 hours of travelling and several cans of Heineken later, I was there. I will always remember that first night in Columbus, it was an incredibly surreal and uncanny feeling. Here I am, talking to people that I had already been talking to constantly on a daily basis and now they're suddenly 3D?

It took a while to shake that feeling and whilst it was a weird one, it was never a bad one. Those few days spent interacting in-person with peeps were incredibly productive. I definitely didn't get much "real" work done but for solidifying relationships? Most productive I've ever been.

??♂? I still do dumb shit

Here we are six months and one terribly structured article later. I first started writing this intending to frame it around the book I had previously mentioned and some of my takeaways from that. As I started writing though, that didn't feel right. Other people have already written great synopses and takeaways (and you should probably just go read the book yourself). I also didn't publish this for 3 months after the fact so here we are, even more disjointed!

Instead, I just wanted to take a chance to reflect and go with the flow like I have been for the last six months. So that's what I did. Is it the most insightful article in the world? Absolutely not and if you expected that, I'm sorry.

As the heading says, I definitely still do dumb shit. I've made mistakes along the way. I didn't ask questions I probably should've. I didn't get some things right the first time. Shit happens. I don't regret any of them and I'm most definitely still making mistakes and I'm okay with that. Every day is an opportunity to learn. ??

However, here are some of my biggest takeaways from my first six months as a product manager. Are they specific to product management? Nah. Are they clever, witty or insightful? Also probably nah. Are they aimed at being applicable for everyone and worth sharing? Also most definitely nah but here they are anyway.

• Being vulnerable is a path to growth.
• I'm gonna fuck up, be okay with failure.
• Always err on the side of over-communication.
• Ego makes you look like a fucking prick, don't be a prick.
• I way overuse this emoji and I have absolutely no regrets ??
• Switching careers is bloody hard, especially when I didn't plan it.

?? 2022 is going to be elite

So that's it, the first six months. They've been a real corker—which reminds that I had to explain the word corker to a colleague along with a fair few British slang words to various colleagues. It's interesting how different language can be, even within the same "native language". I've learned a few American-isms too so it goes both ways.

Looking forward to Q2 and the rest of 2022, it's hard to not think about one of my favourite things I've picked up from eFuse. Being ELITE. When you're working with some of the best people who truly love and believe in what they're doing, it's hard to not get swept up in that.

I'm looking forward to what the rest of e2022 has in store for me, for my team and for eFuse. We've got some good shit coming and I can't wait to see what we do ?

?? The 'What the fuck' Dom part

As I said at the beginning, this was supposed to be about my first 90 days and honestly, not much has changed six months later. It sounds cliched as fuck, like the fucking worst tbh. But eFuse? It's the best job I've ever had. I work alongside so many fucking brilliant people who know their shit. How could I not love the work we do?

One of the biggest things I keep an eye on when I join a company is their core values. Every single person at eFuse embodies our values. I don't have to ask, I just have to observe. It's the best fucking job I've had.

I never imgined I would be here but now I can't imagine being anywhere else.