Polite but revealing questions to ask in a PM job interview to understand culture and fit (and their literal translations…). A thread 🧵 . #prodmgmt.

What will we do differently next time?. As well as considering what benefit a new feature might add, we’ll also consider what impact it might have on the existing ecosystem and mitigate accordingly.

What happened? . Something new had an adverse and unwanted effect on the efficacy of an existing (well-liked) feature and had to be quickly remediated. Why?. Because we focused on the expected value the new thing would add without considering any wider unintended consequences.

I learned a lesson recently:. It helps to think of your product as an ecosystem 🍃 . Building something new may seem like the right thing to do in isolation but its introduction could impact the delicate balance of your product. #prodmgmt.

Finding an appropriate time to take a holiday. #prodmgmt #productmemes

When you’re asked to help the hiring manager with interviews. #prodmgmt #productmemes

In summary:. 1. Do it once then do it again better.2. Be consistent.3. Aim for ‘good enough’.4. Play the long game.5. Embrace your unimportance .6. Remember that they’re rooting for you.

Leading in a new, alien environment can be super daunting but what I’ve learned is that most of that pressure is self-inflicted. You have the power to make it a less-stressful, more impactful transition with just a few small tweaks in approach.

6. The people that matter are rooting for you. You’re here for a reason. The people that hired you did so because of your qualities and experience. They are willing you to do well, not trying to catch you out. Your success is in their interests as much as yours.

5. People don’t care about you as much as you do. This might be a hard one for your ego to take but you’re not that important! . Enjoy the relative anonymity that being new affords you while you find your feet. Make mistakes while no one watches.

4. You have more than one chance to make an impact. Accept that there will be no silver bullet or panacea. Your team & stakeholders will judge your efficacy over a sustained period of time, not on an unattainable overnight success. Play the long game.

3. Good enough is good enough. There reaches a point where your time is better spent on other things. The Good Enough state is the optimum balance between value returned and effort put in. Find that point then move on.

2. Consistency breeds confidence. Do it, then do it again and again. Soon you’ll notice a compounding effect that returns greater value for the same amount of input. Your team & stakeholders will also thank you for stable, consistent, predictable (within reason) ways of working.

1. Do it once, then you can do it better. No amount of finessing can guarantee you’ll get it right first time. Accepting you’ll more than likely get it wrong first time round will reduce the pressure you place on yourself. The only way to find out what needs improved is to do it.

My new boss could see this and in a 1:1 encouraged me to rip the band-aid off. It might not be perfect but it’ll be better than what’s there today, he said. I took his advice. It was uncomfortable but the right thing to do. Here’s what I learned:.

I was fretting as I felt I only had one shot at making an impact. I worried that if I didn’t get it right first time I’d lose the confidence of those around me, or that they’d doubt my abilities.

A #prodmgmt thread on being new, self-doubt, and making an impact. 🧵 . I had started a new job and was in a leadership role for the first time and keen to impress. So much so that I was attempting to finesse everything to the point of over-engineering.

Am I right?!. #prodmgmt

First day. #productmemes #prodmgmt

Couldn’t agree more. Part of the job of a PM is to advance the collective understanding of the team and this is a super effective technique in achieving that.