As a product manager, I had the opportunity to work and start out in multiple new teams and companies, which can bring certain challenges and opportunities.
There are many aspects of the job as product manager, which requires an in-depth understanding of the product, the users, and the team. This can be intimidating when you start in a new position and hard to find the right place to begin with.
In product management we are in the center between different stakeholder, interests and motivations. The onboarding process will take some time, maybe even longer than in other disciplines. But if you complete this phase with the right pace and calm, it will greatly benefit you eventually.
What is the product
Probably you have already studied or tried the team’s product before you set the first foot into the door. But after joining the team, you get a much better look at the core and internals of the product. As the job title implies, we are advocates and ambassador for our product, so it makes sense to start with it first.
Start reading every piece of written documentation about the product. From development wikis, business plans to marketing initiatives, everything is relevant to better understand the current position in the market, development status and the roadmap for the future.
If you start in a fresh team or startup, you can also face the situation, where only minimal written documentation is available. Specially at the beginning of a new company the team works very agile and communicate directly more often to increase the pace. In that case, you will have to start asking even more question than usual to all involved parties and take notes.
Also read about what the users or community have to say about the product. Are they full satisfied or are their obvious pain points which can be spotted? Depending on the exact product and industry, the user feedback will come from different sources, like social media, online communities or review sites.
Study also all available data analytics metrics the team has already implemented. As data-driven product person, these give you valuable additional insights into product, user and success metrics.
How the team works together
In the first few weeks, you will mostly observe and look how the team currently works together. What processes, subgroups or ritual are in place? Does everybody communicate freely with everyone, or are certain people talking more than others? How does a new feature translate from the initial idea to the final implementation, which steps needs to be done before it’s usable by the users?
Take part in every regular meeting and actively listen to the teams voices. It’s definitely not up to you to intervene right now about processes or workflows, only watch and make notes to your observations. Are there currently system for goals setting in place, does everybody on the team know the mid and longterm goals? How is the OKR process structured and how is it used?
Who is on the team
As product managers, we are communication hubs and streamline information across different departments. How to speak to your team members is crucial, so I normally try to schedule with everyone in the new team a small one-on-one meeting.
It depends on the team size, but start with the C-suite and leads. In the best case you can find a few minutes time with every member on the team. This can be just a 15-min introduction call or chat, where you just get to know each other. It’s normally not so much about what you are talking about, it is the way how you communicate, what humour is okay or what tone is best suited.
What tools are used
The team will have tools for communication, project management, task management, art or document management. Maybe you already know better tools for certain task or activities, but the time to suggest optimisation will come later. The right tools can help to improve a team’s performance, but only if you know exactly why the current system is not working.
As a new member in the team it can be therefore hard to break established workflows and force a new tool on to the team. Specially developers are pretty allergic to this kind of PM optimisations. I always had the premise, I will only convince the entire team to a new tool, if the current process or costs are no longer justifiable.
Tips for first few weeks in a new team
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Your first 30 days: Learn, learn, learn
- Schedule conversations with your team members 1-on-1
- Use your product as much as possible
- Competitive analysis
- Familiarise yourself with the product metrics
- Use the product tool stack
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From Days 31-60: Build relationships and credibility
- Start leading strategic planning meetings
- Identify near-term strategic priorities to work on
- Seek to your head of product or CEO to provide support
- Help your team members to remove impediments
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From Days 61-90: Experiment and innovate
- Identify a small feature that your team can work on together
- Slowly optimise and improve processes
- Ship your first piece of functionality
- Start working on your team’s next initiative
And finally, enjoy the new opportunity and lean into the challenges presented. But take the time and patience, and it will benefit you greatly.
