Mistakes That Every Newbie Product Manager Made
Since I’m a newbie, this story also includes my mistakes. And when I’m talking about mistakes, believe me, I made a lot. But, let’s be honest, which one of us didn’t?
I picked this headline ‘Mistakes That Every Newbie Product Manager Made’ but please don’t feel bad, because even experienced PMs do these mistakes. We’re learning this way.
There’re a lot of mistakes I should’ve added here but I think this is enough for a story. I believe we’re really doing amazing work, and we all should be proud of ourselves.
Here’s a list of common mistakes that you will learn from them most;
1. Thinking every stakeholder is on the same page with you
Well, this one is pretty common and even before you’ve stepped into product management like go way before think about the times you’re doing group homework, most mistakes were made when we thought everyone understood the same thing. Since this is very common, make sure you’re very clear about tasks, opinions, etc and when you’re listening, make sure you understood what you’ve been told. You can prevent this mistake by asking, sharing your opinions, and listening. Also please remember to take notes, this is what my mistake is. I sometimes forgot taking notes, to prevent this I always carry a notebook with me, and first thing in the morning I make sure my notebook is open on my second screen. I can suggest a couple of note apps such as; Evernote, Obsidian, Notion, and OneNote.
2. Not knowing the difference between ‘Customer’ and ‘User’
Most of the time, these two people will be different. To identify needs or pain points, you can’t simply walk away by doing just one of them. Each of these personas will be different, and when it’s time to create User Personas you have to know the differences very clearly and make tons of research to target them.
There’ll be differences between your customers and users’ needs, pain points, responsibilities, etc. make sure you understand each one of them, and if there’re any black holes go make more research and ask your stakeholders.
Since we’ve mentioned asking;
3. Don’t be shy about asking
Since the dawn of time, the most effective learning ways are asking and making mistakes. This is a story about making mistakes and we can’t pass asking for sure things.
It’s okay to be shy when you’re at a new company, new team, or a new role but every one of us goes through this and we feel the same way. When you’re in a team, your teammates will support you — they were in your shoes, don’t forget that.
And easiest way to get rid of shyness, asking more questions and making mistakes. Your teammates are just right there to cover you up.
And, here’s the thing that might make asking questions harder for you — even you’re an experienced PM: Everyone expects you to know all the answers, and all your stakeholders will come to you when they a question but we’re human beings and it’s okay to don’t know everything. I wish we have magic wands that help us with everything but we are as cool as witches so we can learn and still answer their questions.
To be a successful Product Manager, you need to collaborate, get involved, give feedbacks, get feedback, ask questions, give answers, etc.
4. Don’t you dare to do everything on your own
Team work makes the dream work.
This is not just random quote people say, it’s the fact. Don’t make wireframes alone or don’t write test scenarios/PRDs by yourself. Seek help, it’s for the greater good.
You may forget important things or you can make mistakes normally, we’re learning together at the end of the day, not by ourselves.
And since we have a lot on our plate, what harm could extra help do?
And a couple of quick notes:
5. Don’t stray from your scope by drowning in the ocean of features
There’re good features we all want to add to our products — for me, I always want to add extra color anyways, but sometimes these beautiful features might us send away from our scope. It’s good to keep your scope, roadmap, and budget in your mind.
6. Don’t forget to prioritize
Doing prioritize on a large and small scale gives you great discipline.
You can start with baby steps on a small scale from prioritizing your daily tasks to roadmap items which is a pretty large-scale thing to do. Like everyone always says, prioritizing is everything and it really helps to keep things moving forward.
Here are 2 stories about prioritizing that I’ve written:
Thank you for reading so far! Feel free to contact me on LinkedIn
Best Regards, Yağmur.
