Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Clement Nguyen

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I started my journey as an Associate Product Manager — time flies when you’re having fun! I came into the role from a completely different discipline (Finance) and so I had a lot to learn from day one. I thought it was important to reflect on the past 12 months to take stock of my journey so far…from the “we did it!” highs to the “oh god, why did I do that” lows….a “retro” if you will…

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.

— Peter Drucker

Some of these reflect my transition into product management, and also my journey as a young professional, which can be applied in any discipline.

Stay firm on goals but flexible on how to achieve them — I’ve found this to be the best way to engage a team around a problem. It’s important not to be a ‘task master’ when it comes to solving problems, especially when you’re working with a team of highly intelligent and creative developers and designers. As a product manager, I’ve learnt that it’s not my job to come up with the best ideas, but instead to engage with the team to bring the best ideas to life. What’s more important for me is making sure that we’re getting our minds together to focus on the ‘right thing’ and using our limited resources effectively.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ communication method, “MVP” your comms strategy — One of the things that excited me most about working in product, was the cross-functional nature of the role and working with different stakeholders to achieve joint goals. What this meant in real-life however was that setting up meetings was like herding cats, sending a group email was like a tree falling in the forest, and using Slack was like speaking a foreign language that only some people understood*. Whilst all of these methods have a role to play in the workplace, test which ones work best with your target audience and always think about how you can make it more effective and efficient. Can this 1 hour meeting be a 15 minute stand-up? How can I summarise this pack into a few bullet-points? Is this a meeting or a coffee catchup?
Be cool with ambiguity — There were times when I had no idea what I was doing or what direction a product should be heading in – these were times when my confidence was at its lowest. Fortunately for me I had great leaders around me who supported me during these times and reassured me that these moments are commonplace for a product manager. The best product managers embrace ambiguity. They have a toolkit they go to full of models and frameworks to step them through a problem and above all else, they trust their gut. Which leads to the next point…
“Trust your judgement, you’re here for a reason” — This was the best piece of advice I received from a manager, which really helped me navigate through times of uncertainty. If you’re lucky enough to land a product role, then trust that you’ve been picked for your ability to navigate through the sea of metrics, opinions, tradeoffs and risks to make the right decisions to solve business or customer problems.
It’s ok to change your mind — Even those with the best judgement are sometimes wrong. Whilst I admire those who have the confidence to back themselves when making decisions, I have learnt that it takes more courage to admit you were wrong or that someone else’s idea is better!

*Slack adoption is growing in my wider team (and rightfully so)

Bonus Speed Round:

Always celebrate team wins with food
GoT debrief sessions are mandatory
If you don’t watch Rick and Morty you’re gunna have a bad time
When you go away on holidays, make sure you bring back some snacks
Your self-worth is measured by how many party-parrot reactions you get on your Slack posts

My first year as a Product Manager: 5 things I’ve learnt was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My first year as a Product Manager: 5 things I’ve learnt

Cool stuff, every week

More Articles