Starting a new PM job

There you are… the product expert in the room.

The only problem is, you don’t really know what the product does or who is using it. Even the sales guy that was hired two months ago has a better understanding of who your customer is.

For product managers, starting at a new company can be very difficult. After all, you’re supposed to be the expert; on the product, the customer, the market and the industry. Stakeholders and engineers look to you to rationalize a product vision. How are you supposed to do that when you’re the newbie?

There is no silver bullet. You have to learn - and quickly!

You can’t delegate the learning and you can’t artificially accelerate it either. You simply have to put in the hours. However, with some planning, you can minimize distractions and ultimately feel a little less lost in those early months.

Table-stakes

There are five areas you have to focus on in order to be an effective product manager. I believe this list is universal across industries and products.

1. Learn the product

You can’t improve a product unless you understand how it currently works. That means learning the features, user flows, high & low-value engagements, tech-stack and 3rd party integrations. Other than using…