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James Heimbuck

Principal Product Manager, GitLab

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What's your framework to prioritizing needs/deliverables when you're the first Product Manager at a company establishing the function?

James Heimbuck

GitLab Principal Product Manager • November 17

When I search the internet for "Product management prioritization frameworks" I get back 3.2M results so the options are nearly limitless of what to choose. MoSCoW, RICE, Value vs. Effort, Kano, etc. find a method that makes sense to you and the data is mostly available to apply to the framework.......Read More

397 Views

If you're new to PM, what's a good way to think about, contextualize, and approach a 30/60/90 plan if you've never done one before? Also, are there any templates/resources you'd recommend as a jumping-off point?

James Heimbuck

GitLab Principal Product Manager • November 17

In the first 30 days get to know the user you are building for, the problems that they have and how your product or feature solves that. Get to know your team and how they deliver solutions for that problem and what is getting in their way. Ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes. Use t......Read More

378 Views

What questions should you ask during your one-on-ones with the engineers, design, support, marketing and sales team during your first month at the company?

James Heimbuck

GitLab Principal Product Manager • November 17

There is a lot to learn from your new team when starting and it can be tempting to jump right into what they can help you build first or what their problems are and you will get to that soon enough. Before that I like to start building processes and systems so all of those groups can self-serve i......Read More

371 Views

You're the new Product Manager for a B2B SaaS company that has 40 people and is starting to scale. What should you aim to do in your first month and your first quarter?

James Heimbuck

GitLab Principal Product Manager • November 17

For an organization at this stage a product manager was probably brought in to help manage the vision, ensure the variety of customer requests and ideas are being reviewed and prioritized and the development teams are working on the right things. To do that there are a couple of key things you ne......Read More

349 Views

What are some examples of "quick wins" you should aim for in the first 90 days?

James Heimbuck

GitLab Principal Product Manager • November 17

It can be tempting when joining a new organization to find something small to ship but you should remember that shipping does not mean a "win", you want to drive a successful outcome. So instead of focusing on finding something to ship, focus on finding a way to improve an outcome. That might be ......Read More