The Product Management Yin and Yang
Early-stage Product Managers, you’ve been lied to.
You were told to do a bit of everything. But doing the splits hurts your company. You can regain focus with the Product Management Yin and Yang. If you’re a product manager (PM) you’re maybe juggling with 10 things. Trying to push that boulder up that hill.
This may sound like the right thing to do. After all, you’re at the crossroads of several disciplines. And this is what was described in the job description.
This is wrong.
Not only are you wasting your energy, but also hurting your company. There are some tasks you need to be great at. And some tasks you shouldn’t do. And you can’t achieve that if you’re going broad and shallow.
Great PMs figured this one out. They do less, and better. When you see them they’re calm and in control. They’re performing extraordinarily well.
You know what being focused means. Your role is to make other people in the team focus to execute. But it’s always the baker’s children who have no bread. Here is how you can find focus with the PM Yin and Yang.
1. First, figure out if you’re at product-market fit (PMF)
You’re at PMF if customers are banging at your door. If your customers pull your product so hard that you can’t catch up with demand.
2. Second, pick between Discovery and Delivery
If you’re pre-PMF focus on the Delivery. This is the Yin ⬛️
If you’re post-PMF focus on the Discovery. This is the Yang ⬜️
👶 Pre-PMF
At the Pre-PMF stage, you have no time for abstraction. Shipping fast is a proxy for your success. The more you roll the dice the more chances to succeed. You need to focus on the solution space.
Great tasks: collect feedback, write problem statements, prototype stuff, QA, “just-in-time” thinking.
👩 Post-PMF
At the Post-PMF stage, the biggest risk is losing sight of your customers. The second biggest risk is misalignment between teams, and with your company vision. To solve that you need to focus on the problem space.
Great tasks: support research, translate strategy, write vision statements, roadmaps, and user stories.
It’s About Balance and Focus
The Yin and Yang are not all black or white. On both sides, there is a bit of each other. This means you can focus on Delivery but do a little bit of Discovery at some point — or the other way around. What matters most is where you put your focus, and be intentional about it.
If you’re a product manager at an early-stage startup, then this is your chance to increase your focus and make an impact.
If you want to try, and want to keep yourself accountable, then comment below “🔍 Discovery” or “📦 Delivery”.
I’ll message you in 6 weeks to check if you stick to your commitment.
My focus? 📦 Delivery! Happy shipping!
Special thanks to Tremis Skeete, Executive Editor at Product Coalition for the valuable input which contributed to the editing of this article.
