Where should I start? A Young PM's Roadmap (Everything Still Ahead)
One of the most frequently asked questions lately: "What do I need to do to become a PM (Product Manager)?" Where should I start?".
Of course, the answer to this question is not the same, because different people have different experiences. What I will mention here are the steps that I am familiar with and find appropriate. So don't think I have to do exactly that. Customize it :)
- Know English at least Pre-intermediate level.
Silicon Valley is where products are born and die at the speed of light. The newest, most interesting and thought-provoking information is shared in English. Generally, materials in the tech field are in English. For this reason, knowing English is a must. If you sit and wait for someone to translate for you, that information will become obsolete. Speed is important here.
- Be friends with the computer.
When you have a problem, don't immediately call someone for help. Try to fix it yourself first. Believe me, it will teach you a lot. If you can't fix a minor problem with your laptop yourself, consider becoming a PM. It might not be your profession...
- Learn the terms
Of course, just memorizing terms won't get you anywhere. That's why you should read a lot. Articles, courses, videos, books, etc. If you devote only 20 minutes a day to these, you will know basic terms in 1 month. To browse the market quickly, use the following links
can benefit from:
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/
https://productschool.com/product-glossary/
https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/
https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-glossary
- What does product mean? How is it made? - get to know the steps
No matter what the end result is, every product has a certain process to create, and this process also has steps. I do not want to take your time by listing the stages here. You can write "Software Development Life Cycle" and get more information about it. Just Google it! :)
- Know the types of products
What kind of soft products are there? What makes them different? What about the common features? When is it better to create?
- Study the idea and its validation methods
Any product starts with an idea. An idea is a product of the brain. How to validate different ideas? Which method should be used when? What are Internal, External and Experimental validations? How is it done?
- From Idea to Design
There is a famous saying: 1 picture is worth 1000 words. I think 1 product prototype can replace 100 discussion meetings. https://balsamiq.com/ for your validated (Validated) idea to become a prototype
https://www.sketch.com/
https://www.invisionapp.com/
https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html etc. from tools like this
you can use. Of course, you don't need to know all of them. As a starter, balsamic will suffice. But if you want your work to be met with greater enthusiasm, it is useful to learn other photomontage tools.
If you're lucky, you'll work for a company with a UI/UX team. In this case, your work becomes much easier, and you may not learn these skills, but if you have basic knowledge of Graphic Design and UX, the product you create will be both beautiful and easy to use.
Among the resources that will be useful in this direction:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQx75OPRa0&list=PLx03_0RRvUEE8w_ipVLwBjr9glIlU9G8M
(a brief explanation of 6 videos)
- UX for beginners Joel Marsh (book)
- Don't make me think Steve Krug (book)
- Work with different teams
What do developers do? How to talk to them so that they don't send you away or, worst of all, don't consider you at all? Because even if the job title has the word manager, you don't manage people, you manage the process. It is necessary to build the process of saying in such a way that it is followed to a certain extent, if not completely.
A good DevOps team? What about DataBase? Marketing? Sale? Finance? Stop stop stop. It was a little too much. There are many, but the fact is that as a PM you will be in direct contact with all the teams mentioned here, which may change depending on the company, at different stages of the project. You will work hand in hand and you will most likely be the proactive one. Because the product is yours and its fate depends on you in many ways.
As it is clear from what is written, what do these teams do and what are their main roles in the project, how can they help you, etc. You should find answers to such questions.
- Development methodologies
Without it, the text is long, so I will make it very short to save your time. Only 3 most common methodologies are applied in Azerbaijan:
- Waterfall;
- Agile.
- Blend of Waterfall and Agile.
Agile was more popular. The most popular way of organizing work in the spirit of Agile is SCRUM. More: scrum.org
- Public speaking
If not for PM, it is one of the must-haves. Most of what a PM does is talk/explain/get an idea across. So work on your speech. The tone of voice you use, your posture, facial expressions, and sometimes even your body language can play a huge role in this matter. Learn to justify your thoughts.
- Presentation skills
If we talk a lot, then we should do it tirelessly. To do it without tiring, we should use short presentations. What is a presentation? How should it be done? Sales/Demo/Information etc. What should be the structure of type presentations? How should the presentation text begin and end? How to keep the attention of the audience? How to present differently for different audiences, etc. explore the answers to the questions.
- Learn to write e-mail.
As a PM, you will receive countless emails without an account. You should answer them in such a way that the other party understands what you want to convey, not what they want from the gray and boring text. This means that your words and sentences should be unambiguous. The text should be written clearly, and what is written should be justified. In general, email writing is a separate art. I'll probably get another note on this one.
Here I want to conclude this long text. If I mention everything, it will be pointless. For a beginner PM, this is enough. Writing documents, organizing backlog, prioritizing, receiving customer feedback, etc. there are details, but there are skills that are best learned by doing.
That's it for now. Protect yourself. No matter who you are, what you want out of life is important. Because that's what drives us forward.
