Lachlan's Top 7 Tips for Growing as a Product Manager
Some thoughts on how to get better as a product manager, regardless of how much or how little experience you currently have.
Hi there, Lachlan here. We hit 100 subscribers after just a few weeks! 🎉 Writing these posts is a lot of work, but your reading and engaging with them makes it worth it. Thanks for being a part of this. Onwards!
Last week I caught up with a close friend of mine from college. At one point, he mentioned he recently started his first PM job and asked me if I had any advice on how to grow as a product manager.
I shared what came to mind but walked away unsatisfied with my answer. I get asked this question a lot from folks I mentor, and each time I feel like I give a half-good answer. Also, it’s a question I have myself and wanted to think about more carefully. So, for this week’s post, I thought I’d try and package and share some thoughts on how to get better at product management. I’m writing based on my personal experience with all my own biases, so as always please take what I say with a grain of salt. Also, if you have other things that have worked for you please share! My approach is by no means the only one nor necessarily the right one.
One more thing, if you’re enjoying these posts and know someone who might also like them, consider sharing with them! It means a lot ❤️
And now, without further ado, I give you… Lachlan’s Top 7 Tips For Growing As a PM™. LT7TFGAP™ for short.
T Shirts, hats, and mugs with this acronym can be purchased here.
[1] Get your head right
Ok ok ok so you want to become a better PM. Where do you start? I’d suggest starting by ensuring you have the right mindset to grow. Without the right mindset, you’ll get a lot less out of everything else on this list. So, what’s the right mindset? I think it’s a combo of growth mindset + high grit + humility + curiosity + self-awareness + humor + emotional regulation + diligence. That’s a lot of things to master at once. Getting great at all of those is probably the work of a lifetime. If you’re short on lifetimes, maybe start with humility, curiosity, self-awareness, and a growth mindset. How does one develop those traits? Be born that way. Ha just kidding. IDK what’ll work for you. What’s helped me: meditation, therapy, journaling, “Mindset” by Carol Dweck, and having a Mom that always encouraged me to be curious in all things and in all people.
[2] Ship products
Ok so you’ve reached enlightenment. Well done. Time for step 2: ship products. Post-enlightenment, this is my top advice because I (and I think most people) learn best by doing. When your goal is to create something valuable, you’ll naturally learn about the steps and tools within the product life cycle. I suggest this whether or not you’re currently a PM. If you are, congrats you can do this during your 9-5. If you’re not, you’ll have to be more creative. Some ideas: get a friend interested in tech, think about a problem you two have, create something that addresses that problem. For now, don’t worry about all the startup stuff you might have heard eg “TAM”, “agile”, “product led growth”, etc etc etc. By focusing on solving a problem and googling when you get stuck, you will organically learn most of what you need to know and you’ll learn it at the most appropriate time. The most important thing? Just start. Do it now. Need motivation? Here you go:
[3] Try and reflect
I titled it this because when I say “try and reflect” quickly in my head it sounds like “try n reflect” which is how I saw “try to reflect” so it’s like a pun or something. IDK I thought it was funny. Anyway, for step 3 in LT7TFGAP™, I suggest focusing on constantly experimenting, reflecting on how things went, and then adjusting your behavior accordingly. Everyone talks about the power of feedback. Yeah feedback is great. But you know what’s better than feedback, a billion dollars. Wait what? As I was saying… you know what’s better than feedback you get from others now and then? Feedback you give to yourself all the time after trying new things constantly because you’ve committed to constant experimentation and you’re self-aware. That’s how you get better every day not every six month review cycle. Side affects include: being too hard on yourself, burnout, anxiety, depression. Talk to your doctor about the benefits of self-compassion, patience, and finding purpose, identity, and worth outside your work.
[4] Be a PM student
Most PM content is really dry. Not This Is Fine tho. This Is Fine isn’t a regular, boring product management newsletter, it’s a cool Mom. It’s not like other girls. Still, there is some really insightful pm content out there that you may be able to learn a lot from. I’d try different mediums and reflect on what works for you and then double down. The key I think is to identify the context and delivery mechanism that keeps you consuming and learning on a regular basis… to build your learning “system”. Here are a few recs if you’re not sure where to start…
Books: Thinking Fast and Slow, Inspired, Bird by Bird
Don’t: try to read all the product books at the same time in a week.
Do: start a PM book club with friends where you read one book a month and discuss it. #systemsNotGoals
LinkedIn people to follow: me, Shreyas Doshi, John Cutler, Siddharth Arora, Dan Shapero, Shyvee Shi, Aakash Gupta, Pawel Huryn, Julie Zhou.
If you follow them now you’ll start seeing their content in your LinkedIn Feed.
Podcasts: Lenny’s Podcast
I personally don’t listen to any podcasts on PM but I’ve heard this one is good.
Blogs: waitbutwhy.com, paulgraham.com.
Both are inactive now I think but have great repositories.
PM newsletters:
Two of my favourites: The Looking Glass, The Beautiful Mess.
Twitter: IDK
I can’t help you I’m not on Twitter. The folks above probably are. Maybe follow them?
Courses: 30 min LinkedIn Learning course on personal productivity for PMs, 30 min LinkedIn Learning course on strategic thinking from LinkedIn COO
[5] Get mentor(ed)
Yeah I know. Find mentors. We’ve all heard it. Here’s why I think it’s key: good mentors (ideally not people you report to) can often give you extremely valuable and specific guidance when you’re stuck, which as a PM, is often. Also, as long as you’re respectful and appreciative, it’s often fun for them. But how do you find mentors? My suggestion: identify people you like and respect, reach out to them with specific questions you can’t easily find answers to online, offer to receive advice asynchronously or synchronously, respect their time and show appreciation, and then if it works keep asking them for advice, always be willing to hear no. DON’T: ask to “chat”, “pick their brain”, “learn about product”. Example: I’m a lot more likely to respond to a LinkedIn message from someone I don’t know who has a specific question or ask and is happy to chat asynchronously than someone who reaches out wanting to “chat about product” or “add me to their network”.
[6] Find pm besties
Last week, work was wild. The number one thing that helped me get through it was talking/venting with two PM work besties (shoutout Elza and Rosa!). Product management can be a very lonely job. I’ve found that having pm peers to vent to and discuss problems with has been and continues to be an extraordinarily useful way to facilitate my growth as a pm (and make work a lot more fun). If you work at a startup or are not yet a PM, this step and the former step might be harder for you. The good news is, wherever you are in your career, there are other people who are facing the same problems you are. If you can find, connect, and help each other, you will have a great opportunity to get better.
[7] Help others
How does helping others help me? In my experience, helping others helps you in both personal and professional ways. Personally, it feels good to help people and is an especially good way to help folks who may not have had some of the advantages you have or face additional challenges you don’t. Professionally, it helps you refine your own thinking and if you decide to help/mentor folks in public and at scale, it can also be a good way to identify yourself as a Smart Person in product. I started This Is Fine for all those reasons, and because I like to write, and because Rosa didn’t respond to all the amazing PM content I sent her 😠.
What’d you think of this post?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update on Lachlan’s Life
If you’re just here for the PM stuff, feel free to skip this section.
Two weekends ago I went to Helsinki, Finland for a few days 🇫🇮
Fun fact: there are more saunas than cars in Finland.
^ me at the Helsinki Design Museum.
Last weekend, I was in Berlin 🇩🇪
Fun fact: I learned it now takes me 3-4 days to recover from a night out. I am old.
It’s been sunny in Stockholm this last week ☀️
Spring is (finally) coming…
Best thing I’ve read in the last few weeks
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s 2019 blog post on how to be successful [LINK].
You got all the way here? Damn you are a real one. I appreciate you. Have a great day and don’t forget to subscribe if you want more posts like this in your inbox 🚀
great read & congrats on 100 subs 👏🏼