

Ask HN: My first full time job as a Product Manager. Any advice? - thomap

Hello HN!<p>I've just finished my studies (in both computer science and digital business), and I'll start my first full time job in two weeks. I'll be a Product Manager in a web startup.<p>Do you have any advice or good books to read on the subject?<p>Thanks!
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gyardley
Rule number one: no surprises. Your job is to know exactly what's going on
with the product and why, and make sure no one else is surprised by
communicating the information they need in the form they need it.

Rule number two: get to know the customers well. If you're bogged down in a
hundred different internal meetings you might be very productively building
exactly the wrong thing.

It can be hard to balance these two things sometimes, but they're both really
important.

There's a lot more to it than that, but product management is mostly learnt on
the job. If you're just starting out, and have no product management
experience, you're probably not the only product manager at your company. Glom
on to someone who seems to know what they're doing and get mentored. Ask the
people you interact with what they're looking for in a product manager. Be a
sponge.

Good luck!

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debacle
I'm a programmer, and I want you to know that if I work for you I'm probably
going to lie to you, in two ways.

The first way is that you're going to ask a question you think I understand,
and I'm going to answer your question in a way I think you understand, when in
reality we're speaking two different languages. The result will wind up making
both of us look bad.

The second is that I'm going to tell you something is done when it's not. This
is really a follow-on of the first item - I'm going to think that it's done,
because I've done everything you asked me to, but when you look at it's going
to be clear that it's not done, because something assumed didn't get done.

I'd recommend you read Rapid Development and/or Code Complete, if you haven't
already. They are important books, that will be a good read for you even if
they are more for the programmer perspective.

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gregcohn
Useful framework of all the disciplines related to and adjacent to product
management. Will be overly comprehensive for a web startup PM, but it's a
useful framework and may give you ideas on areas to read up on.

If there are any aspects of this you aren't familiar with, at least understand
how they contribute value to the product management lifecycle so you can learn
more and/or hire someone to help where needed.

<http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/about-us/framework>

I'm also a big fan of usability testing and getting in front of users for
different kind of qualitative testing (e.g. concept testing) generally. It's
easy not to bother with this step when everyone thinks they know what the
product/customer needs.

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ABrandt
Read The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. It's quick, cheap, and provides
the most actionable advice of any management book I've come across.

When you're put in a management position its usually because you're good at
doing something. Good do-ers tend to want to do everything themselves because
they know best, but when you're in management that can cripple you. This book
will prevent you from making all sorts of mistakes right off the bat.

[http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Manager-Meets-
Monkey/dp/068...](http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Manager-Meets-
Monkey/dp/0688103804/ref=pd_sim_b_2)

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asadotzler
If you do nothing else, you must first represent your users. You care about
them more than anything. You live in their shoes. You go to bat for them at
every opportunity.

Strive to nail that, to get to a place where your normal mode, your
"instincts", are driven by genuine user empathy.

If you struggle with this, either keep working at it or look around for other
roles you can play. If you can't get comfortable caring deeply about your
users, you're probably not going to be able to help your team or your
organization build great products for those users.

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gus_massa
I like the articles in <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/>

Proably the more usefull sections for you are "Tech lead" and "Program
manager".

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goronbjorn
How big is the startup and what is the breakdown by position (i.e. #
engineers, # marketing, etc)?

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roseleur
Be humble, open for advice and critique. And build up a network as soon as
possible. The more people you know, the easier it is to get things done. Don't
forget the external network, it helps to know other product managers.

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ssylee
Don't act as if you're a manager. You're more like a product development
organizer and status updater.

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tnorthcutt
Rands in Repose may be good reading for you.

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dkisit
The Ultralight Startup

