Do you have any advice for a junior PM who is a first product management hire?

Congratulations! Being the first PM at a company can be a really exciting and formative experience, in shaping the product vision and the product organization. Here's a few things I'd suggest: It's all about the user - user needs, user problems, user stories! Spend a lot of time learning about your customers, their needs and what they're looking for from your product.  Make sure you socialize what product management is, what your key responsibilities are, and how cross-functional partners should ...Read More

As I mentioned in another answer, lean on those around you; there is a wealth of knowledge to be amassed from stakeholders and peers that have likely interacted with the product that you've been brought in to support for some time. Those same team members likely led to you being brought on board to begin with, so learning as much as you can will set you up well for the future.  If you can come up with a clear set of goals for yourself, it will be immensely helpful to gauage your progress. For ex ...Read More

If you are a junior PM who is the first product management hire, it would be fair to assume you are working at an early-stage startup where likely the founder is acting as the product leader. You were hired to support the founder and your focus will be more on execution versus defining strategy and vision. This would be a great opportunity to learn the ropes and over time if you can showcase strategic thinking there may be additional opportunities that can open up. Your focus should be learning ...Read More

Assuming this is an early stage company, the priority should be learning the basics of the business and building relationships with as many colleagues as possible. Use those learnings to construct a map of current products, problems and opportunities. Considering you are the first PM, any foundational product-related frameworks you put in place will be welcomed by most of your colleagues, so don't be afraid to suggest new ways of working. I'd also suggest reading some of the popular PM books whi ...Read More

Absolutely, welcome to the discipline, you're in for quite a ride and I'm super excited for you.  Optimize for learning and honing your craft. There's a balance to have the confidence to make decisions without all the data and put stakes in the ground even you actually have no clue while balancing always opting to listen and learn and never actually being the expert on anything in the room. Confidant enough to leader while humble enough to learn. Your career is a long ark. Think about when you s ...Read More

Here is my advice for a junior PM in a small company: Get to know your product. Learn to ue it everyday and document any issues you see Talk to customers about their experience using your product. Document these issues Create a prioritization framework: prioritize the problems you see that are biggest for the customers Pick metrics you want to measure. What will drive the biggest impact for your company and customers? Create a 3-6 month roadmap and share it with all your team members. Align on c ...Read More

Three areas to focus in your first product management role:  Learn and Connect: Your initial priority is learning, and make sure that includes understanding the business. Seek to understand how engineering works, how customers use your product, go-to-market strategies, company strategy, and goals. Ask many questions, listen attentively, and document everything. This documentation will be invaluable as you onboard future PMs. Communicate: Keep stakeholders informed about your progress and decisio ...Read More

I joined Microsoft as a PM right out of the college. If I could phone my former self, I would tell her: be patient, be patient, be patient. You know nothing, and it's normal. becomes the expert of the product, functionally and technically. You should be able to demo the product and draw the architecture diagram of the entire software within 4 weeks. network with everyone. Don't think you are not worthy of speaking with people because you are new, young and ignorant of what's going on. Your colle ...Read More