2024, in contrast, was the year of feeling empowered where I framed well-rounded goals and felt accomplished by achieving those. 2025 was humbling, reminding me of the unpredictability of work and life. Nevertheless, the year brought incredible learning and growth.

This post is a reflection on what worked, what fell short, and where I need to double down to enable a sustainable and fulfilling career. Through these lessons, I hope to help my future self and others who are on a similar journey.

TL;DR — My 2025 “Cheat Sheet” for a Sustainable Career:

• Morning & Night: Rituals reset miseries; sleep must be earned daily.

• Mindset: Reality is a projection; action is the antidote to anxiety.

• Growth: Prioritize deliberate reps and trusting yourself over a “perfect” process.

• Presence: Reclaim your attention span to enable deep work and “just being.”

1. A strong morning ritual resets most miseries

Mornings don’t just set the tone of the day; they simplify problems and are the biggest leverage for long-term success. Sticking to healthy morning rituals gave the biggest payoff. On the best days, my morning starts by 6, followed by an app-led workout, meditation, and journaling the day’s focus. My worst days start by checking emails or waking up tired after poor sleep.

The takeaway: Even if your ritual is just 5 minutes of quiet before opening Slack, protect that window at all costs. A key learning is to minimize reactive days by knowing what’s at stake.

2. A sound sleep must be earned every day

Sleep is critical for productivity, but a tech job is inherently anti-sleep: excessive screen time, decision fatigue, and frequent context switching all contribute to an overstimulated brain. The sparse sunshine during Pacific NW winters further impairs the circadian rhythm.

Good sleep is hard-earned. Deliberate outdoor exposure, an AM workout, a caffeine fast after noon, and closing work before 6 PM usually conduce to good sleep. My learning is to rationalize FUDs (fear, uncertainty, and doubts) before going to bed. A Netflix episode seemed like an easy escape, but those worries almost always woke me up in the middle of the night.

3. Reality is a perception

This year, I experienced firsthand that the world is a projection of the movie our mind is playing. I can influence what’s playing to some extent, but I can’t switch the channel entirely. A restful sleep or a strong morning ritual will usually start a good movie, but it is not guaranteed to last—a small event like a rude email can trigger a downward spiral.

What helped most effectively was to persevere witnessing of these thoughts to detach from the situation; writing them down when it got too chaotic to create clarity or reframing the problem to explore a solution. It is a muscle I need to grow every day with every opportunity life offers me.

4. Action is an antidote to anxiety

The world is chaotic and careers are unstable. But the best way I found to overcome negative emotions is to do something. When I hit a setback, I journaled, wrote next steps, and acted on the obvious task at hand. To ease my AI anxiety, I built AI products and shared my learning instead of just consuming information. Taking action forces the mind from “why me” to “how may I” and channels negative energy into progress.

5. Trust myself more

The problem with people with high agency is they blame themselves for everything that goes wrong, which instinctively leads to self-doubt. In retrospection, I often found specific failures were attributed to bigger circumstances rather than an isolated mistake. Lesson: deliberately reinforce trust in yourself by taking a step back and rationalizing the situation more objectively.

6. Strength-training is a cure-all

Inspired by my teenage son, I joined a gym. It was a game changer. Any time work things got tough, I hit the gym. It always calmed my aching heart and solved problems I couldn’t have solved in front of my computer. A 3x/week gym habit was the best new habit I built in 2025 that I plan to stick to in 2026.

7. Reps over perfection

My breakthroughs came through reps. Spending 30 minutes daily vibe coding worked better than waiting for a dedicated week for learning. Drafting a strategy then revisiting it over subsequent days was more effective than trying to perfect it in one sitting. Recurring conversations with colleagues to drive clarity on a gnarly problem drove better results than obsessing over a perfect plan. Learning: breakthroughs came through deliberate practice rather than insisting on a perfect process. This insight is vital for complex AI projects where the roadmap is often ambiguous.

8. Make time for things that I enjoy

2025 was the least enjoyable year for me. Reflecting back, I didn’t allow myself to do things that energized me—I didn’t even write for 6 months! Learning from this, I want to double down on singing, lunch with colleagues, and planning fun weekends. I need to be deliberate about these activities, setting time aside for recharge as a priority to increase my long-term productivity.

9. Reclaim my attention span

I lost my ability to stay in a conversation for more than a few seconds. I noticed that led to higher context switching and brain fog. My attention span is the biggest asset I want to preserve, as it is the foundation for high-quality product strategy and deep work. I will start small: not checking my phone at the checkout counter and using full-screen mode during meetings to create pockets of sustained attention.

10. Practice just being

Last year went by too quickly. If I am not deliberate, this year shall pass like a fleeting memory too. I will deliberately create space with no end goal in mind, like “no-agenda Fridays” where intuition drives the day. I will try weekend projects where I let a spontaneous app-building idea drop me into a flow state. On evenings, I will truly listen to my younger one’s school experiences. I am learning that life’s real agenda is to immerse in the experience and witness what unfolds every moment.

What about you? What was the one habit that kept you afloat in 2025, and what are you choosing to leave behind in 2026?

Last year, I stepped into the Microsoft SharePoint AI platform as an L67 IC.

I set out on a deliberate quest: become a stronger AI PM, deliver impact worthy of my role, learn a heck of a lot, and make it fun.

The catch? To truly learn AI, I had to go deep. Build things. Experiment. That eats time.

So I made a bet: use AI to scale everything else, and use the time I saved to go deeper on what mattered.

This post is about that bet. What worked. What didn’t. And what I learned.

Start with a curiosity mindset

Before I get into the specifics, there’s a mindset shift worth naming.

If you approach AI tools expecting them to save time immediately, you’ll give up quickly. The first time you try a new tool or solve a new problem with AI, it often takes longer. You’re learning the tool. You’re figuring out how to prompt it. You’re discovering what it’s good at and where it falls short.

I adopted an curios, AI-first, approach, even when it felt slower.

The payoff came later. Once I’d learned a workflow, the second and third time were dramatically faster. The investment compounded. But it required patience upfront and a willingness to experiment without expecting instant returns.

That mindset made everything else in this post possible.

The investment: going deeper

As product managers, we’re trained to focus on the why and the what. We leave the how to engineering.

With AI, I made a different choice. I decided to go deep on the how as well.

That meant learning the Copilot stack hands-on. Not at a conceptual level. Not enough to have conversations. Enough to build.

Building sample apps

My customers are developers. The fastest way to enable adoption and create value was to give them high-quality sample code.

So I built an AI agent myself.

The agent retrieves knowledge from SharePoint repositories, reasons over it using the Microsoft Foundry agent service, and produces a finished professional report for scenarios like audits or compliance reviews.

This solved a real problem customers have. Many were extracting documents, vectorizing them externally, and re-implementing security from scratch. I wanted to offer a better way: reason in place using native Copilot APIs.

I used GitHub Copilot extensively here. It helped me understand new SDKs and sample codebases at scale (think about the wave of announcements that hits right after a big conference like Microsoft Build!), and write my own agent code faster than I could have alone.

That single sample, which ended up being one of the top most-clicked solution, did a few things for me:

• Helped customers adopt the platform faster

• Deepened my understanding of the AI stack

• Directly informed my product roadmap

• Made partner conversations sharper and more credible

• Gave the engineering team a headstart to publish a production-ready solution template

What I learned: Going deep on the technical stack didn’t make me a worse PM. It made me sharper. I asked better questions. I spotted gaps faster. I stopped relying on secondhand understanding. Building something real created a feedback loop that made every other part of my job better. AI didn’t replace my PM skills here. It amplified them.

Manually running and analyzing evals

Evals are one of those things that sound straightforward until you actually do it.

I’d seen eval reports. Aggregated metrics. Pass rates. But I didn’t truly understand how evals worked until I ran them myself.

And here’s the thing: looking at aggregated reports wasn’t enough either.

The real learning came when I walked through individual evaluations one by one. Looking at specific assertion failures. Comparing AI responses against ground truth. Asking why this particular case failed.

That manual review surfaced gaps in my product that no dashboard would have shown me.

When I needed to analyze scoring reports at scale, I used Copilot Analyst to create complex pivot tables. It helped me slice the data in ways that would have taken me hours to set up manually.

What I learned: Two things. First, do it yourself. Don’t outsource understanding to summaries. Second, manually review things. Don’t insist on scale review before you’ve done the slow, careful work. The texture lives in the details.

Creating an environment to move fast

In a corporate environment, building code isn’t trivial. Compliance matters. Test environments expire. Setup is time-consuming.

So I invested in setting up my own development tenant, Github integration with Visual Studio Code, automation scripts, shortcuts, and a personal wiki to recreate environments quickly. These environments are ephemeral by design, so automation mattered.

AI helped me write those scripts, document the steps, and reduce friction every time I had to start over. What used to take half a day became thirty minutes.

What I learned: Scaling yourself often means investing in infrastructure that only you will use. It feels like overhead until you realize it’s what makes speed possible. AI accelerated this investment dramatically.

The offset: scaling with AI

Going deep was half the equation. The other half was making sure everything else didn’t fall apart.

I needed to scale tasks that would otherwise eat my calendar: content creation, conference prep, communication, and the hundred small decisions that pile up every week.

AI became the way I bought back time.

Using dictation and AI to think out loud

I use dictation heavily. Like I did while capturing the notes for this post.

Speaking is faster than typing. It’s easier on the eyes. I can do it while walking.

AI is remarkably good at turning rough, spoken thoughts into structured output. I use this for strategy docs, internal posts, planning notes, and even first drafts of content like this.

I don’t aim for polish at first. I aim for momentum. Get the thinking out. Let AI help organize it. Then edit.

What I learned: The bottleneck for most knowledge work isn’t quality. It’s starting. Dictation plus AI removes the blank page problem. I capture more ideas, lose fewer insights, and create more output than I ever could typing from scratch.

Demos that tell stories

Platform products are notoriously hard to demo. Without a real scenario, you’re just showing APIs.

For conferences and customer conversations, I needed more than functionality. I needed a believable end-to-end story.

AI helped me:

• Ideate demo scenarios that felt real

• Generate realistic sample documents

• Create mockups, screenshots and prototypes

• Build demo-ready sample apps

For UX prototypes and sample apps, tools like V0, Lovable, and Cursor were invaluable. They let me go from idea to working prototype in hours instead of days.

This let me show possibility. Customers could see themselves in the story.

What I learned: Demos are storytelling. AI is very good at generating the raw material for stories: sample data, realistic content, visual scaffolding. The creative direction still has to be yours, but the production cost drops dramatically.

Conference storytelling

Conferences start with a pitch. If the pitch isn’t compelling, the session doesn’t get approved.

I used Copilot to:

• Tailor session pitches to specific audiences

• Write session descriptions that hooked reviewers

• Create a narrative arc for the talk itself

• Decide where demos should appear for maximum impact

Once I had the story, I used Copilot to generate an initial slide deck. That gave me a strong starting point for visual storytelling.

What I learned: AI is excellent at structure: outlines, arcs, flow. It’s less good at the spark that makes something memorable. I’d use AI to get to 70%, then do the creative work myself to get to 100%.

Creating content without burning time

Social visibility matters. Blog posts. LinkedIn updates. Internal announcements. Sharing your work is part of the job.

But it’s also the first thing to fall off the priority list when you’re busy.

AI made content creation fit into my day. I’d dictate rough thoughts between meetings, ask AI to structure them, and edit before publishing. Some posts took fifteen minutes.

What I learned: Consistency beats perfection. AI let me ship more frequently, which built visibility over time. The compound effect of regular content creation is real, but only if you actually do it. AI made “actually doing it” possible.

Tactical, everyday usage

Some of the biggest wins weren’t strategic. They were small.

• In a group chat about a large deal, I used Copilot Researcher to project API usage based on existing context and reference docs. It wasn’t perfect. It was good enough. It unblocked the team instantly.

• Continuing the practice to use the in-line context available in chats and emails, I started using Copilot to schedule meetings across time zones, pulling the right people, drafting or sending invites - saving time and context switching.

• When new jargon and concepts show up in a conversation, Copilot enlightened me on the highlight phrases in place instead of context-switching to search.

• For “how do I do this?” questions about internal tools, HR systems, or processes, Copilot saved real time and cognitive energy.

Copilot Researcher became one of my most-used tools. I’d use it for customer research, market analysis, competitive intelligence, and even to pressure-test my own strategy docs. Perplexity filled a similar role for web searches that needed more depth.

What I learned: Friction adds up. Tiny time savings, repeated daily, compound into hours. AI is most transformative in the hundred small moments.

The boundary: what I kept for myself

Copilot helped me draft performance reviews by summarizing my work across meetings, chats, and docs. It gave me an 80% starting point instead of a blank page.

It also helps with customer research and market understanding.

But I learned something important with strategy docs.

When Copilot writes the strategy end-to-end, even when seeded from my own rough drafts, I don’t own it. I don’t feel connected to it. I don’t want to reread it.

This was a hard-won lesson. I’d generated impressive-looking docs that I couldn’t stand behind even though the actual content was compelling.

What I learned: My current rule is this: use AI for research, synthesis, and structure. Write vision and strategy myself. Blocking time to write, even messily, creates better thinking. The act of writing is the thinking. Don’t skip it.

Closing thought

AI didn’t make me a better product manager by doing my job for me or automating tasks.

It made me better by removing friction, accelerating learning, and helping me scale as an individual contributor.

I built things I wouldn’t have built. I shipped content I wouldn’t have shipped. I understood my product more deeply because I ran the evals myself, reviewed the failures manually, and felt the gaps firsthand.

But I also learned where to draw the line. Some work, the vision, the strategy, the hard thinking, has to stay yours.

Used intentionally, AI becomes leverage.

Used blindly, it becomes noise.

That distinction matters.

Appendix: the AI tools I used

Here’s a summary of the tools that powered this quest:

For building and coding

• Visual Studio Code - playground for understanding and running Git repos locally, building my own, checking in to Git.

• GitHub Copilot - understanding SDKs, navigating sample code, building my own agent

For research and analysis

• Copilot Researcher - customer research, market analysis, competitive intelligence, deal support

• Copilot Analyst - creating pivot tables to analyze eval scoring reports

• Perplexity - deep web searches

For productivity and communication

• Copilot for work - Q&A, summarization, drafting decks and planning docs, scheduling, semantic search across files and conversations

For prototyping and demos

• V0, Lovable, Cursor - UX prototypes, sample apps

For general use

• ChatGPT, Copilot (web) - personal and general usage

I’m curious: if you’ve been experimenting with AI in your own work, what’s worked? What hasn’t? I’d love to hear what you’re learning.

The calculator rule of thumb

Use AI when the task is mechanical and the stakes are low. Use your brain when comprehension, judgment, or originality decide the outcome.

AI handles: formatting, grammar, link-hunting, extracting lists, converting/cleaning tables, repo bootstraps.

You handle: the first pass on ideas, deep reading of high-stakes documents, hard trade-offs, and final calls.

Short version: Draft with intention → delegate the busywork → return to judgment.

Work from one surface with Copilot (kill context switching)

Copilot for Work (or your version of the Enterprise GPT) shines when you want one place to ask, pull, and decide - without hopping across Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, or notes. From a single chat, you can get up to speed on a thread, pull decisions from a meeting, and link the live document you should actually read or edit. Less tab-hopping = more working memory for judgment.

How I use it:

• Catch-up without context switching: “What did we decide in Tuesday’s platform sync? List decisions, owners, and unresolved questions. Link the document we edited.”

• Assemble the working set: “For the billing revamp, list the latest spec, the dashboard, and the last two emails I’m on about churn. Add owners and last-modified dates.”

• Prep before you meet: “Summarize my unread mail + Teams chats from the last 24 hours mentioning ‘contracts migration’. Extract action items assigned to me.”

Why it helps: Context switching is expensive. Each workload has its distraction traps (new org-update email, new ping on Teams, comment on a co-authored document). Keeping the work inside one surface preserves attention while still giving you the cross-app context.

Draft fast, think hard (dictate → polish)

Why: Writing is conducive to critical thinking. If AI drafts first, you skip the thinking.

Always draft the initial thought in the most natural way possible - pen on paper, speed-type, or dictate your raw thoughts like you’re talking to a teammate. The last one is a powerful mode to get the ideas out without writer’s block. As an added bonus, it forces me to organize my thoughts on the fly, improve my enunciation, and sharpen my diction.

My recent performance reviews and PM Nirvana posts started as dictated drafts, which I then polished with AI.

Prompt:

Polish this draft. Keep my voice and intent. Tighten, remove hedging, fix grammar, add clear headers, preserve bullets. Don’t add new ideas.
Audience: [VP Eng]  Goal: [Buy-in for X]  Constraint: <=400 words, plain language
Here’s my raw draft:
[PASTE]

Anti-pattern: “Write me a strategy for…” → that’s outsourcing your brain.

Use AI as a time-constrained thought partner

Treat your AI like a busy expert with limited patience. That constraint forces better questions — and better thinking.

Tactics that work:

• Three-Question Rule: You only get three shots. Draft them before you ask.

• Socratic first: Ask the AI to grill you; answer; then request critique.

• Red team: Have it attack your plan from a skeptical stakeholder’s view.

• Decision hygiene: Ask for trade-offs, failure modes, and what evidence would change your mind.

Micro-prompts:

You are a skeptical VP of Product. In 8 sentences max, red-team this plan. Focus on risks, blind spots, missing metrics.
[PLAN]

Ask me 7 hard questions that would materially improve this roadmap. Wait for my answers, then grade them and suggest edits.
Context: [PRODUCT, USERS, CONSTRAINTS]

Important: Block 45–90 minutes to actually do the work that emerges. Otherwise, it’s just dopamine chat.

Delegate search & doc-wrangling (free your headspace)

Perfect delegation candidates:

• Create sample documents for my demo application assorted in DOCX, PDF, and PPT formats.

• Pull a customer list out of a dense PowerPoint or Word file.

• Convert qualitative insights into a table or transpose rows ↔ columns.

• “Find me the link to my paystub” or the steps to create an Outlook Group.

• Normalize messy snippets into a single CSV you can sort and filter.

Quench quick curiosity to unlock deeper learning

Curiosity spikes are gold — but they can derail a deep-work block if you let them sprawl. I use one-minute curiosity bursts to clear tiny knowledge gaps without losing momentum. The aim is a fast definition + 1–2 reputable sources, then straight back to the work.

When to use it: You’re drafting a strategy and bump into a term (“graph grounding,” “Q*-style planning,” or an internal acronym). Instead of opening ten tabs, ask AI for a tight, context-aware explanation.

For public knowledge searches, Perplexity is perfect. The simple, centralized experience avoids the “sponsored” distractions in Google search, making it easy to get back to the real work.

Read what matters yourself (then use AI to lock it in)

Summaries are great for reference, risky for comprehension. For pivotal emails, specs, contracts, or exec posts — read and understand them yourself. Write open questions, thoughts, ideas, and musings on a piece of paper for retention and recall. Use AI to ask specific questions or poke holes. “Why did the customer ask for an alternative solution?” “What topics didn’t the team cover?”

Vibe coding learning with real code

You don’t need to be an engineer to learn by building.

GitHub Copilot is the most powerful, and seemingly undervalued, AI tool for product managers. The ask mode is great for asking questions without changing the local code. Once you understand what’s going on, switch to the agent mode to make changes or build new code.

I strongly suggest refreshing your GitHub account, connecting it to your enterprise GitHub Copilot (or your default text-to-app AI tool), and keeping Visual Studio Code (or your favorite IDE) loaded on your machine at all times.

Clone → Run → Explain loop:

1. Clone a repo you’re curious about (e.g., an MCP server or agent). Or ask Copilot to scaffold a codebase based on a public article.

2. Play with the local code - ask GitHub Copilot: “How is this project organized? How does it work?”

3. Run, then: “How do I run this code?”

4. Change one thing and re-run. Capture what broke and why.

Handy prompts:

From this repo, identify entry points, critical paths, and where context is injected. Output a diagram-friendly outline with filenames.

Generate a minimal “walking skeleton” for a feature-flag UI. I’ll narrate behavior; propose components and state. Keep styling minimal.

Why this beats tutorials: Real code forces you to internalize architecture and trade-offs. Tutorials can’t.

Anti-pattern: Limiting yourself to vibe coding and UX prototyping.

Closing

Use AI the way you use Google or a calculator: let it grab links, clean tables, scaffold code, and pressure-test ideas - then return to your own judgment for the call. If you try one thing next week, try this: dictate your first draft in your own words, then ask AI to edit without adding new ideas. You’ll move faster and feel sharper because the thinking stays yours.

In Part 1, we covered setting meaningful goals across interconnected life areas. Knowing what you want is an essential first step, but the real challenge is consistently moving towards those aspirations. This follow-up post is all about building daily habits and identifying key levers that drive real progress.

Most goal-setting methods fail because they treat goals as isolated milestones. Life doesn't work that way. Real life is interconnected—progress in one area often boosts progress in another. Success becomes sustainable and less stressful when you build interconnected habits and leverage systems that support multiple goals simultaneously.

This year, I prioritized three areas: productivity, career, and spirituality. Rather than tackling them independently, I developed daily habits and key levers that compounded progress across these domains.

Productivity: creating conditions for deep work

Initially, I found it challenging to engage deeply in meaningful tasks, despite having a solid morning routine. Completing routine tasks was easy, but strategic work often remained unfinished. The key lever I discovered was environment.

Working from home had too many distractions. So, I created a system to work from a co-working space or my office at least three times per week. This simple change significantly boosted my productivity, minimized distractions, and sparked fresh ideas.

Additionally, I streamlined my task management using Todoist, clearly documenting and prioritizing my daily tasks. Combining this with Pomodoro timers and app-blocking tools helped minimize context-switching and sharpen my focus further. These productivity habits formed a powerful system, enabling consistent deep work sessions.

Second productivity booster was decluttering my FUDs (feature, uncertainty, doubt) to create headspace and unblock the intuition for complex problems. A habit of journaling before or after meditition has been instrumental to offload noisy thought patterns. But there are days when the work and life demands overwhelm me too much to resort to journaling. I have been applying a practice of surrendering inspired from Michael Singer’s “Surrender Experiment” where the author is able to achieve extraordinary outcomes simply by not coming in his way of life. Another practice learned from my mentor and coach Dr. Srikumar Rao is to pray to whichever higher force or entity that I can naturally believe in. Praying doesn’t come naturally to me but it’s incredibly powerful.

Career: strategic skills, intentional actions, and mentorship

Career growth needs to be shaped with a push and pull model - pushed by extrensive outcomes of promotion and rewards and pulled by intrinsic aspirations to leave a legacy, becoming a thought leader and benefiting a community. In other words, I pursue promotions because they will force me to upskill myself and become an overall better person. And I seek to becoming a more effective, impactful professional that may also lead to better financial rewards and expose me to opportunities that further force me to learn and grow. My past 2 promotions at Microsoft have helped me grow as a person and so these milestones felt extra fulfilling.

In addition to setting a promotion goal and I also set a goal to join an emerging AI-centric product space at Microsoft that will force me to upskill. To achieve this goal, I deliberately prioritized developing expertise in generative AI, understanding industry trends deeply, and enhancing my strategic thinking and leadership abilities. These clear priorities guided my daily actions and projects I pursued at work.

Another critical lever was intentional daily reflection. Most days, I spent ten minutes reviewing key interactions, decisions, and learning moments from the day. Reviewing these in the context of my goal mindmap (I track annual and monthly mindmaps). This habit helped me consistently aligned my daily work with the larger career aspirations.

Mentorship was the third critical lever. I proactively sought mentors who had successfully navigated similar career leaps, including regular sessions with my mentors. These mentors provided invaluable insights, helped validate my strategies, and highlighted blind spots. Their guidance significantly accelerated my career progression, reduced anxiety, and made my path toward leading a significant AI-centric product clearer and more achievable.

Spirituality: foundational habits for clarity

Spirituality isn’t a separate area; it’s foundational. Enhancing my spiritual habits directly improved my productivity and career decisions by increasing mental clarity and emotional resilience.

The key lever here was expanding meditation practice from morning-only to include evenings. Evening meditation helped process daily stresses, leaving me refreshed and focused for the next day. This habit not only improved my productivity but also helped me approach career challenges calmly and intentionally.

Regularly reading and listening to spiritual teachers like Michael Singer was another critical habit. These daily doses reminded me to stay centered, observe emotions objectively, and reduce impulsive reactions. As a result, I felt more confident, grounded, and less susceptible to career anxiety driven by comparisons or external pressures.

Putting it all together

Here's the central insight: meaningful progress isn't about isolated achievements; it's about creating interconnected habits and leveraging systems that reinforce each other. Small, deliberate choices—like adjusting your work environment, reflecting daily on career growth, or deepening your meditation practice—become powerful levers driving significant progress.

Life doesn’t happen in isolated compartments. When your daily habits and systems intentionally align across your interconnected goals, progress feels natural, sustainable, and genuinely fulfilling.

A significant part of this year's success can be attributed to a mind-map I've been developing over the past two years. This mind-map has allowed me to frame interconnected, synergistic life areas with goals, identify key levers to achieve them, and establish new habits that align my daily activities with my annual goals. It has served as both a map and a compass, guiding my daily planning, decision-making, reflection on setbacks, and assessment of progress towards my annual targets.

I'm excited to share this process with you through a series of blog posts. In this first part, I'll explain how to define meaningful goals that can lead to a fulfilling year. In subsequent posts, we'll discuss how to identify key levers and integrate this mind-map into your daily routine by cultivating habits that will drive progress. We'll also explore how to map out career goals and align your efforts towards achieving them.

Let's begin by discussing how to choose the right set of goals, and then we'll delve into determining the activities that make a significant impact.

Why Another Goal-Setting Framework?

As the year comes to a close, many of us reflect on the goals we set at the beginning of the year and start framing goals for the upcoming year. The struggle to set the right goals, track them throughout the year, and achieve them while maintaining trust in the system is something we all face.

First, we aim to paint a holistic view across life dimensions such as health, career, finance, family, hobbies, and spirituality, so we can draw synergies from each.

Next, we need a way to identify which goals to set. It's tempting to try and fix everything in our lives and set lofty goals around them. We need a guiding framework to "aim narrow and catch wide," allowing us to target a subset of goals, knowing it will positively impact other areas as well.

Finally, and most critically, we need a system that can connect our daily habits to these annual goals. Over the years, I've improved at building new habits. However, as my priorities have become increasingly complex and dynamic, having a guide to choose the right habits that align with my long-term goals and life aspirations has become paramount to my overall well-being.

In essence, we need a system that answers three crucial questions:

1. What annual goals should we set?

2. What habits should we build to make progress?

3. How do we assess and adjust our progress throughout the year?

These questions inspired me to experiment with this mind-mapping framework, and so far, I'm pleased with the outcomes.

Map Broad, Interconnected Life Areas

The challenge with goal setting is that if you set a narrow goal specific to one life area, such as career, your mind may not be fully committed because it's continuously thinking about other aspects of life that you've not addressed. On the other hand, if you set broad goals, there's a risk of spreading your effort too thin across all aspects of your life.

What I found effective is to start with a broad mind-map of all life areas. This way, you can take inventory of everything that matters in your life. I plotted areas that, if successful, would deliver a fulfilling 2024. These areas will vary based on who you are and where you are in your life journey. Below are my life areas. Notice that I set productivity as a meta-area because it's paramount to other areas, even though it's not really a life dimension. For you, it might be something else.

Choose Your Focus

Once I zoomed out, I could see the interrelation between different areas, which helped me prioritize the areas I wanted to focus on this year. My criterion was "which areas, if improved this year, will help everything else in my life." For these areas, I put extra effort into detailing the goal and picking habits that would make a desired impact.

For 2024, I chose spirituality, career, and productivity. Here's how I define these life areas and why I chose them as my focus:

• Spirituality: Intuition-led decisions with an innate trust in the flow of life, a content heart filled with love and gratitude, and a deep state of well-being. Without this, nothing else matters. Conversely, even a fractional success here will make everything else smoother. For example, if I lead with comparison and envy, my career success will be fleeting and dependent on others. But if I am content and centered around my own goals, career success would be more meaningful.

• Career: Lead a compelling product opportunity that will leapfrog my career while delivering satisfaction and financial returns. A strong career success would help me financially, motivate me to learn new skills, boost productivity, and enable overall fulfillment.

• Productivity: Able to optimally utilize my time, energy, and focus throughout the day. Being productive is a force-multiplier for everything I will be doing.

What about the non-focus life areas?

For these areas, I chose to rely on the momentum of existing efforts and activities. For example, for music, I chose to continue with the daily music practice, weekly lessons, and perform when invited but not aggressively seek out new performance opportunities.

At this point, I almost product-portfolio-ed my life - grooming areas that need attention and offer the biggest upside.

Define Outcomes That Proxy a Desired State

For each of these life areas, I started defining an outcome that is energizing and semi-tangible.

For spirituality, I set "feeling centered on my own journey, with minimal comparison and envy most of the time."

For productivity, it was "feeling sharp, focused, and aligned each week."

For career, I set "getting promoted" and "driving an AI-centric product" as targets.

The key is striking the balance between being too specific and too vague.

Once I drafted the first two levels of the mind-map, I already started feeling grounded and excited for the year. I had clarity on how to spend my time, which opportunities to seek, whom to network with, and how to make better decisions.

In the next part, I will share how to determine and develop power habits to make progress towards these goals and identify levers that will expedite the progress.

The key to managing this chaos is understanding that product development unfolds in semi-sequential, overlapping waves. Learning to ride each wave and transition smoothly to the next not only enhances your well-being but also accelerates your product's time to market.

In this article, I offer insights on how to allocate your time and energy according to the current product phase and leverage effective strategies to unlock the next level in your product lifecycle.

What causes juggling

Let's explore why PM roles demand so much juggling. Typically, product development follows a sequence: discovery, hypothesis, validation, v1 build, launch, and then repeat and evolve. You would focus on tasks specific to each phase. For example, during discovery, you'd concentrate on customer interviews and market research. As you develop a hypothesis, you'd collaborate with design and engineering teams to build prototypes for validation. Sounds straightforward, right?

In reality, these phases often overlap. There's rarely a clean closure of one phase before moving to the next. For instance, during discovery, even without a clear vision of what to build, you might be assigned an engineering team that needs effective utilization. If not assigned a team, you must consider resourcing while formalizing your vision. Thus, you must think ahead while awaiting closure on previous steps.

Moreover, prior steps leave residues for subsequent ones. After launching a product with clarity on what's next, you'd ideally focus on specs and designs for the next release. However, launched products bring their own baggage—issue triaging, marketing efforts, and adoption continue demanding attention.

This non-sequential lifecycle fills your calendar with diverse activities that trigger context switching and lead to long-term fatigue.

Acknowledge the product phase as a team

Recognizing your position in the product lifecycle is crucial for managing this complexity. During discovery, prioritize customer interactions. As the product scope solidifies, shift focus to execution—unblocking the team, identifying dependencies and risks proactively, and setting clear expectations.

Aligning the team with current goals is vital. For example, if you've launched an MVP seeking product-market fit, customer validation should be the top priority for everyone. While engineers refine the MVP, they should also engage with customers. This alignment relieves pressure from backlogging unnecessary features just to keep teams busy and helps advance to the next phase sooner. But once you strong PMF, then you double down on execution and focus on craft, toning down on other activities.

Identify effective levers

Time to market is critical for product success. Identifying activities that propel your product forward is essential. Ask yourself: "What's one thing that will make everything else easier once completed?"

For instance, nearing a planned release but facing critical dependencies on other teams requires building empathy and alignment with partners. Levers might include securing an executive sponsor or a compelling customer deal to prioritize your requests.

Time-box leveraged activities

Overwhelm arises from treating all activities as ongoing. In reality, most are time-bound and phase-specific. Set short-term primary goals aligned with leverage activities; other tasks can take a backseat. Once you achieve the primary goal, set a new one.

Suppose you've launched v1 of your product to select customers. Gathering quality feedback informs your roadmap and validates future funding—this becomes your leverage and goal.

With this lever identified, dedicate a month to engaging with customers fully. During this period, spec-ing new features or marketing can wait. Once you've gathered sufficient insights, shift focus to incorporating them into the product through actions like UX sprints addressing issues uncovered during customer interactions.

Communicate

As you navigate these phases, keep your team and stakeholders informed about your focus at any given time. This transparency reduces explanations when de-emphasizing certain activities typically expected of you.

Conclusion

In conclusion, product management is inherently messy due to non-sequential phases and overlapping activities from past and future stages. The key is recognizing your current phase, identifying levers that drive progress for that phase, and setting short-term goals focused on specific activities. Finally, communicate clearly so everyone understands your priorities and rationale.

Here’s a mind map summary for the post.

Why You Need a Mentor

Let's start with why we need mentors. Just like in racing, where every driver needs a crew chief with a bird's-eye view to guide them about blind spots, upcoming hurdles, and opportunities to get ahead, in product management, you need someone who is aware but detached enough from your day-to-day to offer neutral, high-level advice. This allows you to think bigger, broader, and find insights that aren't obvious from your perspective. Having a mentor gives you access to wisdom you can tap into when you're stuck or trying to achieve something beyond your current capabilities. A weekly or monthly touch-base with your mentor offers a powerful placeholder where you can park ideas, questions, or insights you're seeking throughout the week, freeing you to focus on what you can accomplish yourself. Mentors can also be a bridge to people, ideas, and solutions you may not have direct access to.

Finding the Right Mentors

Finding the right mentors begins with a mindset shift. Rather than seeking a dedicated lifetime mentor, think of mentors as an evolving panel of advisers for your career, accessible based on your current phase and situation. Start by organically building a network of individuals you admire, relate to, and who are interested in your growth. Approach this with curiosity and humility.

For instance, if you enjoy a product presentation, reach out to the presenter. Express your appreciation for specific aspects of their talk and ask if they'd be open to a "curiosity connect" where you can learn more about their product area. Similarly, if you notice a respected individual engaged in a meeting, you're leading, follow up to ask for feedback and inquire if they'd be interested in providing more comprehensive input.

As you build relationships, assess whether individuals could be part of your mentor network. A good mentor is an excellent listener, genuinely interested in helping others, and excels in one or more leadership principles. Don't rush to formalize these relationships—you can consider them mentors and leverage their guidance as long as you stay in touch and keep them informed about your focus areas.

Once you've established rapport, you might choose a formal mentor to meet monthly for long-term goal setting. Ensure this mentor is senior enough in the organization (at least a level or two above you) to offer meaningful high-level guidance. It's crucial that this mentor cares about you, knows you, and has time to meet with you. If your formal mentor meets the first two criteria but lacks time, it's challenging to maximize the relationship's potential.

Finding the right mentors is an ongoing process. Early in your career, a mentor should help you navigate organizational structures and develop specific skills like communication or relationship-building. As you progress, mentors can help identify broader opportunities or prioritize options for maximum impact. When joining a new team or starting a new product, a mentor can help you acclimate to the team or domain. If you're transitioning roles or exploring new opportunities, a mentor can help define selection criteria. For example, one of my mentors helped me choose my next opportunity and, after I transitioned, challenged me to refine my role to ensure it offered scope for career growth.

Engaging Effectively with Your Mentors

The next crucial step is effectively engaging with your mentors. As discussed, you'll have both informal and formal mentors. For informal mentors, aim to stay connected by updating them on your work and challenges, and seeking help when needed. With formal mentors, establish a regular meeting schedule and set a goal for the next 6 to 18 months. For instance, if you're aspiring to a management role, use your time with your formal mentor to explore how and when to propose this to your manager, and how to develop the necessary skills for when the opportunity arises.

Treat the mentoring session as sacred—set aside time to prepare a few hours or a day in advance. Much can change between sessions, so send your mentor a recap beforehand and highlight areas you'd like to focus on. This enables your mentor to provide more targeted guidance during your face-to-face time. Cultivate genuine gratitude for their time and let it shine through in your interactions.

Make it mutual

Unlike coaching, which often involves paid engagements or formal agreements, mentoring is an act of kindness. Your mentor doesn't expect much in return. However, when possible, strive to make the relationship mutual—ask if there's a way you can reciprocate. This might involve mentoring someone from your mentor's organization or offering an outside perspective on their product, strategy, or team culture. You could also evangelize their product or help connect the dots when there's a synergy. Sometimes, simply expressing your intent to help is enough, and an opportunity will present itself when the timing is right.

Conclusion

In summary, having a rich panel of mentors is critical for product management success. Remember that this forum is a living, breathing network, so nurture it organically and leverage it based on your career phase and product situation. Make effective use of your time with mentors by being proactive about setting up recurring meetings, keeping them updated on your focus areas, and making it easy for them to mentor you. Lastly, seek opportunities to return the favor.

While ChatGPT excels at boosting personal productivity with its immense knowledge base, enterprise environments demand tailored solutions that respect sensitive information. This is where enterprise AI assistants like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT Enterprise, and Gemini for Work come into play.

Nearly a year since its launch, Microsoft Copilot has shown promise in enhancing productivity within familiar office tools. As a product manager eager to optimize my workflow, I've closely examined its capabilities. While still evolving, Copilot has definitely made strides.

In this post, I'll share practical use cases for Microsoft Copilot to tackle these dreaded tasks, ultimately freeing up mental space. My intent is not to promote Copilot specifically; these strategies can also be applied to other enterprise AI assistants. I focus on Copilot because it is the tool I have the most experience with.

Get non-searchable insights

One of my biggest productivity killers is pending tasks that require research. For instance, I once discovered a Michigan state tax on my paystub, despite not visiting the state that year. This task would typically linger on my to-do list, as I was unsure where to start and easily gave up after fruitless searches. With Copilot, I simply asked when I visited Michigan. It analyzed my emails, chats, and files, revealing the exact date and accompanying coworker. Without Copilot, this would have remained a persistent to-do.

Similarly, locating HR resources like the helpdesk, checking office holiday schedules for your multi-geo team, finding the wifi password for the Microsoft Connector bus, or submitting time-sensitive reimbursement forms is often a hassle. Copilot centralizes these resources, allowing me to focus on more enjoyable tasks.

Navigate the organizational maze

As PMs, our job is to make inroads, connect dots, and find synergies across different teams. But finding the right person in a large corporation can be a time-consuming ordeal. With Copilot, it's significantly easier. For example, a customer recently asked me to validate the feasibility of a particular technical scenario. I included part of their question into Copilot and asked for potential alternatives. Copilot provided several options, helping me connect with the right person immediately.

Accelerate knowledge building

Onboarding to new teams, products, or customer scenarios is a constant for product managers. This often involves deciphering countless acronyms, jargons, and topics. A favorite Copilot prompt is, "What does XYZ mean in the context of abc?" This quickly summarizes the topic, links to relevant materials, and even identifies the owner for a deeper follow-up.

Overcome writer's block

We're often better editors than creators. Even starting a simple spec can be challenging. Copilot can generate a basic draft from raw text, providing a starting point for further development. It can also convert Word documents to PowerPoint presentations or create news posts from rough outlines.

Another dreaded task is to initiate an awkward conversation with a coworker, your manager or stakeholders. Copilot can help you frame the message and remove the initial block to get the important conversation started.

Uncover customer insights and identify patterns

Product managers attend numerous meetings, generating action items and follow-ups. Copilot can summarize these meetings for future reference, creating a knowledge base for subsequent queries. For example, after several customer discovery sessions, you can ask, "What's the common pattern across all customers?" to inform product decisions.

We recently compiled a list of customers interested in a new feature. Using Copilot to analyze hundreds of Excel entries, we could rapidly identify common use cases.

Minimize Distractions

Deep work sessions are often interrupted by the need to reference specific emails. With Copilot, you can search for messages without leaving your focus zone. It even searches across collaboration tools like Outlook and Teams, preventing distractions.

Conclusion

The levers for productivity vary for product managers. A common strategy is to simplify dreaded tasks so you can focus on high-leverage, high-visibility tasks that require deeper focus and higher cognitive load. While consumer AI products help in personal life and mining public knowledge, we can’t rely on them in the corporate context. Microsoft Copilot, and enterprise AI assistants in general, are powerful yet underutilized tools. By simplifying or unblocking dreaded tasks, they free up mental space for strategic thinking and innovation. As these tools continue to evolve, their impact on productivity will undoubtedly grow. The key is to build a habit of using these tools and discovering your own hacks to optimize your productivity.

In this blog post, I will share my experience on how to invigorate your existing job with opportunities that will accelerate your career growth.

Why it matters

When you're working on exciting product opportunities, growth is organic. Challenges motivate you to learn. High-velocity projects compel you to be productive. Encountering problems at a healthy pace triggers creativity. In essence, rich opportunities expedite career growth. Delivering on these opportunities makes you more valuable to your employer and the industry.

Yet, many of us fail to proactively seek and secure growth opportunities. Inertia is the primary reason. It’s easy to get lost in the daily grind. There’s also the fear of failure. Lastly, many hesitate to express their aspirations to find such opportunities.

How to nurture opportunities in an existing job

How and when to seek new opportunities or expand your existing role depends on your career aspirations, phase, and personal situation. Here’s an approach that should apply in most scenarios.

1. Cover the basics

First, ensure you are meeting or exceeding expectations in your current job. This is especially important in today's job market. Your last performance review should clarify your standing, but have a conversation with your manager and skip-level to confirm you are performing at or above the expected level. Knowing you are valued will improve your chances of your employer helping you explore bigger and better opportunities.

2. Assess your brand

In an ideal world, bigger or newer opportunities would come naturally as you earn credibility. But that’s not the case in practice. Even when you get handed bigger scopes as you earn your credibility, they may not necessarily align with how you want to grow. So, you need to be intentional about which opportunities you attract, and it starts by assessing your brand. Is your work known within your organization? How do people perceive you? What questions or problems do they seek your opinion on? This will ground you in reality. If there’s an alignment between your current brand and what you aspire to, leverage your brand. If you seek opportunities outside of your current expertise, you will need to build a roadmap to get there, which in itself will trigger growth. For instance, if you are known for technical prowess but seek a customer-facing role, you will need to reestablish your brand.

3. Define your desired opportunity portfolio

Based on your career goals, define the opportunities that will move you closer to those goals. People management, customer-facing products, enterprise vs. consumer, and AI products are common considerations for your next opportunities. Internalize why you seek these new opportunities to counter the shiny-object-syndrome. Mark what’s non-negotiable and what’s nice to have. Evaluate those against your strengths, weaknesses, and career goal proximity.

4. Express your desire with your trusted network

This is where most people falter. We fear getting a no. Most of all, we fear ruining the rapport with the manager. If you frame it appropriately, sharing your appetite for fresher, better, or bigger opportunities with your manager shouldn’t hurt your relationship. Treat your manager as an ally in exploring something better for you. Be open to negotiate, especially on transition timelines, so you can reach a win-win for both of you. Additionally, articulate your desire with people you trust who can point you in the right direction. In larger organizations, it’s normal to reach out to potential hiring managers to seek newer opportunities. Have curiosity connects to explore current and future opportunities. If you are lucky enough to have options, assess these opportunities against brand alignment, career aspiration, and team culture to maximize success in the new role.

5. Prime yourself to attract desired opportunities

If hiring managers are not immediately interested in hiring you, you will need to build a roadmap to position yourself for future opportunities. Start by developing thought leadership in your desired area. This involves sharing your expertise and insights through blog posts, presentations, or participation in relevant forums. By establishing yourself as a knowledgeable and influential voice, you enhance your visibility and credibility within your organization and the broader industry. Thought leadership not only showcases your expertise but also demonstrates your commitment to continuous learning and professional growth.

Volunteering to build and showcase new skills is another key aspect of your roadmap. Look for opportunities to take on projects or roles within your organization that align with your career goals. For instance, if you aim to transition into a customer-facing role, volunteer to lead customer feedback sessions or join cross-functional teams working on customer-centric initiatives. These experiences allow you to acquire relevant skills and demonstrate your capability in new areas. Additionally, seeking out special projects, task forces, or committees can provide valuable exposure and learning opportunities that align with your aspirations.

Seeking formal training and certifications is also essential for bridging any skills gaps and enhancing your qualifications. Identify relevant courses, workshops, or certification programs that align with your career goals and the requirements of your desired role. Investing in continuous education not only equips you with the necessary skills but also signals your dedication to professional development. Additionally, leverage internal training programs, attend industry conferences, and participate in professional development networks to stay updated with the latest trends and best practices. By systematically building your skills, expertise, and professional network, you position yourself as a strong candidate for future opportunities within your organization.

Conclusion

Your career growth is your responsibility, and taking charge of it requires intentionality and action. Proactively seek and nurture growth opportunities within your current role by covering the basics, assessing your brand, defining your desired opportunity portfolio, and expressing your aspirations within your trusted network. Don't let inertia or fear of failure hold you back. Embrace challenges and continuously push your boundaries to stay ahead of your current competencies.

Remember, your career trajectory depends on your ability to create and seize opportunities. Invest in developing thought leadership, volunteering for new roles, and seeking formal training to position yourself as a valuable asset within your organization. By doing so, you not only enhance your own growth but also contribute significantly to your team's and company's success. Take the initiative today to build a dynamic and fulfilling career that continuously evolves and propels you forward.

If you're a new product manager in such an environment, onboarding can be challenging. However, with the right mindset, you can become an agent of change and grow through this experience.

Respect the reality

Instead of cringing at how the world operates around you, cultivate respect for the company and the leadership team for what they have achieved. Yes, they may be very tactical in their approach, make haphazard decisions, seem chaotic, listen to the loudest voice, and so on. But recognize the fact that they have been successful in having a paid customer base. Grounding yourself in this reality will bring humility to your approach and make your job easier.

Define near-term success first

Make sure to define the 3-6 month success criteria with your manager during your first few weeks. Don't be surprised if your manager expects more tangible deliverables. Say you are expected to deliver X, Y, Z features, build a prioritized backlog, or deliver a roadmap to the leadership. So be it. Follow up with your manager with a more detailed version of these deliverables during the next 1:1. State your assumptions and agree to adjust the expectations midway through the performance evaluation period in case priorities change.

If these goals seem easily achievable, add stretch goals that will enable you to deliver real outcomes for your product. For example, set a personal goal to develop an expertise in the product area, customer persona, and business operations. Include the activities you will do to achieve this mastery. Ask for people you could connect to expedite your learning. Before subsequent 1:1s, send an update anchored around these goals. If the conversation drifts into new tasks or a pivot in the original core priorities, pause and ask how it would change your goals for the current review period.

Observe how the business operates, how product teams build and release features, and the challenges they face. Assess what they do well and where they can improve. Build rapport with key team players and stakeholders to help you navigate through the people and product areas.

Earn the license to preach

To drive change, you must first earn their trust by delivering, even over-delivering, on their initial expectations. If asked for a prioritized backlog with user stories, create a well-groomed backlog using available data, secondhand insights (like those from support and customer success teams) and your best judgement. Clearly state the assumptions behind your prioritization, such as highlighting sign-up issues and explaining the outcomes you're optimizing for. This introduces an outcome-driven culture and identifies knowledge gaps for future iterations.

One of my clients, let's call her Claire, was asked by her manager, call him Manny, to analyze the competition within her first month. Despite Manny's refusal to explain the end goal, Claire over-delivered by framing her analysis around product funnel stages (sign-ups, payment, engagement, etc.). She inadvertently coached Manny on the "why" behind the competitive analysis. Impressed, Manny had Claire present to the leadership team, leading to her inclusion in an elite offsite for product planning.

Cultivate a microcosm of product management culture

Use feature delivery as an opportunity to influence the culture. For instance, if tasked with a UX change, unblock the engineering team with a UX mockup, while also creating alternative low-fidelity mockups with your designer. Explain why you chose the default option and how the alternatives could have been better with more time and resources. This encourages stakeholders to consider experiments in future features.

For backlog prioritization, include representation from customer success, marketing, sales, and other relevant functions. Require attendees to input their feature asks on a shared doc before the meeting. Structure the intake process by the feature and the goal they are trying to hit. Prepopulate the list with a few samples to set an example. Without introducing fancy OKRs and metrics, you influenced your team toward a goal-oriented feature planning practice.

Frame tangible deliverables that elevate customer centricity

Start a weekly recap of your product area for relevant audiences. Along with released and upcoming features, summarize customer problems you're addressing. Frame these as hypotheses and follow up with learnings in subsequent recaps. Include customer anecdotes or insights from customer service.

When writing specs, state the feature goal and how they map to the company goals, even if they don’t exist. Ask for forgiveness by stating them as proposed goals and being open for feedback and correction. For example, “Based on my knowledge, increasing revenue through this product is our top company objective. And from what I have seen, improving the funding funnel is our best way forward. Our competition seems to do a better job here. What do you all think about this?” is a great way to initiate healthy conversations.

Find a veteran who speaks product

Identify a respected individual with strong product sense within the organization. Observe how they drive product decisions and leverage that culture-friendly language to frame yours. Seek their support when introducing new practices. For example, one of my clients built rapport with the COO, who was a former CPO at another company. He earned trust with this person and eventually earned to lead a high-visibility product initiative that helped him amplify the product culture in a broader scope.

In summary

The key is to give before you ask. To influence change, earn the trust of your manager and other stakeholders by delivering the tangible results first. This won’t be easy as the inefficiencies, chaos and flawed decision making will impede your velocity. Accept the challenge to be an agent of change by embedding the desired culture through your outputs and communication style. Start within your sphere of influence first and then model this behavior broadly. Deliver tangible outputs—specs, user stories, features—and use each opportunity to earn trust and shape the culture incrementally. Finally, leverage an ally to amplify your impact.

Beyond enthusiasm: the power of purpose

Generating energy isn't just about pumping people up. It's about igniting a shared passion for the product you're leading. This influence doesn't come from a title; it comes from connecting everyone's work to a clear and inspiring purpose.

For example, say you launched a new accessibility feature. You could emphasize how each role's contribution directly enhances digital inclusivity for people with disabilities, aligning technical tasks with a socially impactful mission.

From tasks to impact: the emotional connection

Start by bridging the gap between daily tasks and their emotional outcomes. Imagine a team that develops a real-time collaboration tool. Instead of highlighting only the technical specifications, you could focus on how this tool enables teams, especially in remote areas, to work together as if they were in the same room. Sharing testimonials from teams who felt more connected and productive because of your tool can vividly illustrate the emotional and practical impact of your team’s work.

Owning the journey: setting and achieving audacious goals

Big goals energize. But the magic truly happens when the whole team is involved in setting them and charting the course. Consider a scenario where, for a major feature release, not only are ambitious user engagement targets set, but each team member devises part of the strategy to get there. This approach can turn project milestones into shared victories, with everyone invested in the outcome.

Stories fuel the fire: celebrating wins, big and small

Keep the momentum going by sharing customer stories that showcase the impact of your team's work. After launching a feature that simplified data entry, you might share stories from small business owners about how much time they saved each day. Celebrating these wins, both big and small, not only keeps the energy high but also connects team efforts to meaningful user benefits.

Empowering and engaging: autonomy and fun

Give your team ownership by granting them autonomy in their tasks and encouraging initiative. Letting a small group spearhead an experimental feature can revitalize their creative energies. You might combine this with a 'design sprint' week, turning it into a fun competition, which boosts creativity, builds camaraderie, and significantly lifts team spirit.

Lead by example: be the energy source

Your own energy is contagious. By demonstrating commitment—being the first to tackle challenges and the last to give up—you set a powerful example. During a critical product launch phase, consider personally leading weekend strategy sessions, which can motivate your team to give their best, seeing that their leader is right there with them in the trenches.

Feedback loop for growth

Regularly solicit and provide feedback. This fosters a continuous improvement cycle, keeping everyone aligned and motivated. Imagine holding bi-weekly feedback sessions where you openly discuss what's working and what isn't, making these meetings a source of constructive criticism and encouragement, thereby energizing the team.

Sharing the victory: weaving your team's story

Don't let your team's achievements exist in a silo. After a successful feature launch, you could craft a cohesive story highlighting the team's hard work, the challenges overcome, and the positive impact on the organization and users. Sharing this story beyond your immediate team, throughout the broader organization, can amplify your success and inspire others.

The takeaway

Generating energy isn't a one-time thing though; it's about creating an environment where people feel valued, their work has meaning, and their efforts directly contribute to the product's success. You can transform everyday tasks into a shared mission, filled with excitement and purpose. As a product manager, you have the opportunity to only energize your team but also unlock their full potential for innovation and success. And a highly activated and aligned team is the most powerful outcome for a happy product manager.

To synthesize the essential skills, let’s get to the essence of product management. The core job of a PM is to create value for the target customers at scale while driving business impact. So, driving business impact through value creation is the ultimate outcome for every product function. What makes product management unique is, you can’t directly generate these outcomes. You need to meticulously identify the leverages that drive these results. These concept applies in real life as well. If you want to improve health, then a regular exercise is one of the inputs. If you want to generate wealth, then saving and investing diligently are your inputs.

So, the entire success of your product, and in turn your career in general, banks on your ability to determine and invest in these inputs. And that’s what brings us to the key habits that we need to develop that will have a lasting impact for the customers, business, and our careers.

The five skills to rule them all

1.     Curiosity

2.     Customer-centricity

3.     Collaboration

4.     Critical thinking

5.     Courage

Let’s unpack each of these in the following sections.

1.     Curiosity
All great products started with a “what if…” question. But curiosity goes beyond that. Curiosity, in the product management context, is devoting our lives to continuously learn, connect dots and elevate our world perspective. Curiosity is a habit-led meta skill that should be a second nature to PMs. The best way to infuse curiosity is to become master learners. Learning happens in different modalities depending on your style and situation. Most of us learn through reading, listening, observing, and applying. Find your niche but don’t limit to one. Reading and listening trigger learning and observing and doing cement it.

A curious PM entering a new job is more likely to succeed than a non-curious one. The former will not only ask the right questions, but will play with the incumbent and adjacent products, connect with different functions, and synthesize and share the observations so she can validate and elevate the share context.

2.     Customer-centricity
Yes, life is too short to build products no one uses. Yet, it’s incredibly hard to build products that truly add value to the customers. You need to systematically fall in love with the problem space. A framework I use extensively is a product canvas. The canvas starts with 4 questions:

1.     who’s the customer

2.     what are their problems

3.     how do they solve today

4.     what are the gaps.

This framing instantly puts you and your team in the problem space. There are several other frameworks that help ground you with customer empathy. But frameworks are only help you get started, building a habit is the real goal.

Customer centricity doesn’t stop in the specification phase. As you externalize your hypothesis through mockups, prototypes, or real products you need to continuously validate if the product solves the intended problems.

3.     Collaboration
When your entire role is premised on influencing without authority, building a collaborative muscle is a prerequisite for PMs. Collaborating effectively with engineers and designers is the absolute least but most PMs need to collaborate with partner teams to bring their product to life.

A successful collaboration hinges on finding a common ground that cultivates a win-win environment for everyone involved. PMs need to continuously leverage their curiosity and customer-centricity to explore synergies across and outside of the organization. OKRs is an effective framework to map common objectives and build a shared alignment. But you also need to build empathy, be inclusive of their inputs and be willing to negotiate until you find a happy medium.

4.     Critical thinking
Critical thinking entails making the right decision based on facts, judgement, and intuition. This skill only comes through practice. And the input here is to expose yourself to situations that force you to make critical product decisions. Curiously observe leaders that you admire make decisions. Seek opportunities that spotlight your decision-making skills. Cultivate a network of individuals who are familiar with your work and ask guidance before and after critical decisions. Most importantly, retrospect past decisions so you can cash in on that learning.

5.     Courage
If you must choose just skill, choose this. Successful product managers have battle scars. They ship real products. Build courage to ship something as early as you can in your career. If your current role doesn’t offer that avenue, then switch to one that enables you to do it. If a job switch doesn’t suit your situation, build a low/no code product and launch it to your early adopters.

Courage is also about thinking big and making bold decisions. Courage is saying no to seemingly compelling opportunities so you can focus on your committed north star. Last, courage is being resilient during roadblocks and failures.

Honing these skills ensures success in your current position, paving the way for more significant opportunities. These advancements will necessitate elevated proficiency, propelling further skill enhancement. Consequently, this initiates a cycle of career progression and satisfaction. Let the flywheel accelerate your career growth.

A significant number product managers lead and manage internal products. From analytics dashboards, infra platforms to developer tools and test automation frameworks, these solutions are critical in the decision-making process, streamlining workflows, and ensuring the seamless execution of business strategies. Mirroring the lifecycle of external products, they cater to specific user needs, address unique challenges, and evolve through dedicated roadmaps and feedback.

Here are a few examples of internal products:

• Test automation systems: streamlining the testing process, enhancing product quality, and accelerating time to market.

• Developer tools: improving development efficiency, reducing bugs, and fostering innovation.

• User feedback managers: capturing and analyzing user feedback to guide product development and improve user satisfaction.

• Platform as a service products: true to their name, these products offer an infrastructure layer to higher level products and applications. This includes microservices, orchestration, instrumentation, security and compliance platforms.

Each of these products plays a pivotal role in the internal ecosystem, driving efficiencies and providing insights that help shape strategic decisions.

Why it’s important to map internal product metrics to business outcomes
Regardless of its potential for an externally monetized offering, it’s crucial for product managers to quantify and communicate the business value of their internal products. The real challenge lies in mapping the output metrics of these products, such as the number of employees engaging with the dashboard, to critical business metrics, such as decisions influenced or enabled by insights from these tools. This mapping is not just a task; it's a strategic necessity for ensuring the success and longevity of these products.

Mapping output metrics to business outcomes is vital for several reasons:

• Securing continued funding: Demonstrating the business value of internal products is key to securing ongoing investment. It justifies the resources allocated to these tools and supports the case for future funding.

• Energizing your team: When teams see the direct impact of their work on the company's success, it boosts morale and motivation. It transforms their perspective from working on 'just another tool' to contributing to strategic business outcomes.

• Prioritizing the roadmap: Understanding the business impact helps in making informed decisions about feature prioritization and resource allocation, ensuring that development efforts are aligned with business goals.

• Facilitating PM's career growth: For product managers, articulating the business value of their products is crucial for career advancement. It showcases their ability to drive products that contribute significantly to the organization's success.

How to map output metrics to business metrics
The transition from focusing on output metrics, such as user engagement and feature adoption, to emphasizing the business impact is a strategic move. Business metrics like revenue growth, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction directly reflect the success of an organization. The challenge lies in connecting the dots between the insights provided by internal tools and these overarching business achievements.

Here are a few mapping strategies that help bridge the gap:

1. Identify key business objectives: Start with a comprehensive understanding of the business objectives your product supports. Whether it's enhancing product quality through test automation or streamlining development processes with developer tools, identify how these objectives align with business goals.

2. Engage stakeholders: Discuss with business leaders to understand how your product influences their product decisions and impacts their product outcomes. This partnership is pivotal for contextualizing your product within the broader business ecosystem.

3. Define impactful actions: Clearly delineate how insights or efficiencies gained from your product translate into measurable business outcomes. For instance, illustrate how user feedback management leads to product enhancements that drive user satisfaction and retention.

4. Establish direct correlations: Develop methodologies to link product usage directly with business outcomes, showing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between tool utilization and business success. An annual cohort analysis is an effective strategy to validate the correlation, which you can use to prioritize your product roadmap and ask for additional funding.

5. Use case studies: Presenting tangible examples where your product has significantly contributed to business achievements is a powerful way to demonstrate its value.

When to do the mapping exercise
To maximize the impact and ensure the relevance of internal product metrics to business outcomes, consider the following timings for conducting the mapping exercise:

• At the planning stage: Before rolling out new features or updates, align your metrics with expected business outcomes to set clear goals.

• During product reviews: Regularly assess the alignment of product metrics with business objectives to gauge ongoing relevance and impact.

• After major milestones: Post-launch or after significant updates, reevaluate your metrics to confirm they still serve the intended business goals.

• In response to business shifts: When your organization's priorities or strategies change, revisit and adjust your metrics to stay aligned with new business objectives.

By strategically timing these assessments, product managers can ensure their internal products continually contribute to meaningful business outcomes, fostering sustained growth and innovation within the organization.

Measuring success and communicating value
Going beyond traditional analytics, implement targeted experiments to quantify the business impact of your product. Communication with stakeholders about this impact is key. Utilize impact reports, visual stories, and testimonials to reinforce the strategic importance of your product.

Conclusion
Navigating the challenge of demonstrating the business value of internal products requires a strategic approach to metrics alignment. For product managers, this alignment is not just about proving the worth of their products but about securing their future, motivating their teams, and advancing their careers. By effectively mapping output metrics to business outcomes, internal products can be transformed from supportive tools into strategic assets, underscoring their indispensable role in achieving business success.

Embrace Systems Thinking

Traditional linear thinking focuses on direct cause-and-effect relationships, which can be limiting in complex systems where multiple variables interact in unpredictable ways. In contrast, Systems Thinking encourages seeing the whole system, including the interactions and feedback loops between its parts, to identify where strategic interventions can have the most significant impact.

Application: When faced with a problem, instead of looking for a direct fix, explore the broader system. Identify the relationships and feedback loops that influence your product's performance. This perspective can reveal leverage points that offer the most impactful solutions.

Example: A product manager at Spotify, tasked with increasing user engagement, applied Systems Thinking. Instead of merely promoting top tracks (a linear approach), they developed Discover Weekly, a personalized playlist feature. This move considered user preferences, artist diversity, and the long tail of music, successfully increasing engagement and supporting a broader range of artists.

Adopt the Growth Mindset

The Fixed Mindset sees skills and talents as innate and unchangeable, leading to a fear of failure. The Growth Mindset, however, views challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, fostering resilience and a willingness to experiment.

Application: Cultivate a culture of experimentation and learning within your team. View failures as learning opportunities. This environment encourages innovation, as team members feel safe to explore new ideas and approaches.

Example: Faced with the pandemic's impact, a product manager at Airbnb shifted focus from international travel to promoting local experiences and long-term stays. This pivot, rooted in a Growth Mindset, allowed Airbnb to adapt and find growth opportunities in a challenging time.

Utilize First Principles Thinking

Analogy Thinking solves problems based on similar past situations, which might not always lead to innovative solutions. First Principles Thinking, however, deconstructs problems to their most fundamental truths and rebuilds them from the ground up, enabling radical innovation.

Application: When developing or refining a product, deconstruct it to its core elements: What problem does it solve? Why do users care about this problem? This method can uncover innovative solutions not evident when thinking by analogy.

Example: A Tesla product manager focusing on battery technology didn't just look for ways to incrementally improve existing batteries. By applying First Principles Thinking, they questioned the essence of what makes a battery efficient, leading to innovative approaches that have revolutionized electric vehicles.

Practice Outcome Thinking

Compare and Contrast: Output Thinking is concerned with completing tasks and implementing features. Outcome Thinking, on the other hand, focuses on the results those outputs achieve, such as user satisfaction or market growth.

Application: Set clear, measurable outcomes for your product efforts. For instance, rather than focusing solely on launching a new feature (output), concentrate on the change you expect that feature to create in user behavior or satisfaction (outcome).

Example: At Dropbox, product managers shifted focus from simply increasing storage capacity (an output) to improving user engagement and retention (an outcome). By introducing features like shared folders, they significantly enhanced the user experience.

Leverage Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Divergent Thinking expands possibilities by exploring many solutions, encouraging creativity and innovation. Convergent Thinking then narrows these options down to find the best solution, focusing on decision-making.

Application: In the ideation phase, encourage divergent thinking by generating as many ideas as possible without judgment. Then, shift to convergent thinking to evaluate, refine, and select the best solution.

Practical Example: Google's 20% time policy exemplifies this model. Product managers allow their teams to explore projects outside their main responsibilities, fostering creativity that has led to products like Gmail and AdSense.

Emphasize Empathic Design

Compare and Contrast: Assumption-Based Design makes decisions based on what the team thinks they know about users, which can lead to misalignment. Empathic Design, in contrast, involves deeply understanding the user's experience from their perspective, leading to products that truly meet their needs.

Application: Engage directly with your users through interviews, observation, and feedback. Use these insights to inform every stage of the product development process, ensuring that the product genuinely meets user needs.

Example: A product manager at Slack focused on solving real communication challenges faced by teams. Through Empathic Design, they developed a platform that simplified collaboration, showing the power of understanding users' daily experiences.

Being strategic as a product manager means more than executing plans efficiently; it requires seeing beyond the immediate, questioning assumptions, and continuously seeking growth and improvement. By shifting mental models—from linear to systems thinking, from fixed to growth mindset, and beyond—we can lead our teams and products to new heights of success. This journey of transformation not only enhances career growth but also drives meaningful innovation in an ever-changing world.

• Spark breakthroughs: When negativity takes hold, our brain shifts from open experimentation to risk aversion, stifling the very ideas that lead to groundbreaking products.

• Champion bold decisions: Negative self-talk can cast doubt on our convictions, leading us to shy away from bold choices that could define our product's success.

• Build collaborative spirit: Lingering resentment or envy can strain relationships with team members, hindering the open communication and trust crucial for building impactful products.

Here's the truth: these micro setbacks stem from our inherent self-centeredness. We build products, help communities, and strive for success because it makes us feel good. This isn't bad, it's human nature. But acknowledging this truth is liberating. It frees us from the clutches of the ego and allows us to channel it towards solving problems, building impactful products, and delivering results.

So, how do we transform this nagging, ego-driven mind into an ally? Here are my daily micro-resiliency habits that have been game-changers:

1. Daily mental uplift with curated reading:

Start your day by escaping your self-centered bubble with a few pages from books that broaden your perspective. Choose anything that speaks to you, but focus on meta-topics that transcend specific product management skills. The Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Michael Singer – these luminaries offer glimpses into a different altitude, leaving you feeling lighter and empowered to tackle your day.

2. Write it Out:

Pen-and-paper journaling is magic. It forces you to be present and untangle your mental chatter. Break your morning journal into four sections:

• Gratitude: List things you're thankful for, even the small ones.

• Worries: Vent your anxieties onto paper, decluttering your mind.

• Intentions: Set priorities for the day, guiding your focus.

• Blessing: Acknowledge you can't control everything, and be open to support.

Before bed, reflect on positive moments, including unexpected joys, kind gestures, or personal breakthroughs. If it was a rough day, write down your worries factually, then express gratitude for the lessons learned. Writing disconnects you from your thoughts, reminding you that they're transient and allowing you to focus on what matters. More importantly, what you focus on grows, that’s physics. So, celebrate wins before bed, if you want more of them the next day. 

3. Find Your Morpheus:

We all live in a matrix of beliefs, past experiences, and societal expectations. If you believe life is a battlefield, you'll approach everything with aggression. If reaching the C-suite is your sole metric of happiness, your life will revolve around that pursuit. Break free from this matrix with the help of someone who sees the bigger picture and offers a detached perspective. This could be a mentor, a family member, a spiritual leader, or even your partner. Their guidance can help you burst your self-created bubble and find your true path.

4. Meditate:

This mental workout requires no equipment or special place. Simply close your eyes, focus on your breath, and observe your thoughts without judgment. Start with a morning meditation after coffee, and leverage short breaks throughout the day to center yourself and reaffirm the "I am not my thoughts" mantra.

By incorporating these micro-resiliency habits into your daily routine, you can combat the self-inflicted negativity that drains your energy and hinders your potential. Remember, the product you're building isn't just for your users, it's for yourself – your best, most productive, and resilient self. Start creating it today.

However, most PMs perceive performance evaluations as a chore that’s imposed upon them. They dread self-evaluation (and the ensuing performance review) and procrastinate writing the first draft till the last minute leaving little time for the manager to review and offer meaningful feedback. Worst, they are surprised if the manager’s expectations don’t match their achievements.

Instead, treat self-evaluation as an employer-sponsored resource. It’s an iterative process to align your tactical productivity toward tangible outcomes for you, your manager, and the company. In this blog, we will discuss how you can integrate this process into your day-to-day job and elevate it from a chore to a career-advancing vehicle.

This post doesn’t describe each step - there’s enough content out there that goes deep on how to set SMART goals or how to write performance self-evaluations. The goal is to explore how you turn self-evaluation into a habit. I illustrate this concept through a self-explanatory visual below. Read on for additional context

As I illustrated above, a performance evaluation is not an event but a life cycle. It has 5 parts - define success, activate a plan to get there, track progress, seek feedback along the way, and reconvene with your manager to evaluate yourself and set the next set of goals.

Let’s explore each of these.

Define success

Set the key outcomes you would deliver by the end of the review period. Depending on your company’s culture, these goals will vary. For product managers, this typically falls into 3 themes:

Product/business impact: products/features/experiment you will launch, key outcomes (revenue growth, customer usage/satisfaction, cost reduction, etc.) you will deliver
Team impact: how you will contribute to others’ success
Culture impact: how you will influence the org culture

Define measurable, objective criteria so you can measure success for each of these themes.

Work with your manager to align and refine these goals so that they map to the company’s objectives and your career aspirations. What that means is, your success should impact business and vice-versa.

The goals must represent substantial scope and opportunity to enable your career growth. For high-risk (and high reward opportunities), ensure you have a contingency plan. For example, say you are pursuing a product that has external dependencies, then collaborate with your manager to back-pocket product areas you can pivot into.

Activate

Next, you plan a roadmap toward the goals defined above. The plan granularity will vary based on your seniority but the idea is to identify high-leverage activities that will push you towards your goals. For example, build rapport with a business partner that will streamline your product launch. Or, learn a critical skill by shadowing a leader. Or, hire the right talent for your team. Proactively co-building a plan with your manager will prioritize your calendar, elevate your 1:1s, and avoid surprises during the final performance review.

As you advance in your career, the leverage activities get fuzzier, bets-based, experimental more than linear execution. It resembles playing Chess, planning moves in advance than a game of Checkers - all the more reason to front-load your review period with a game plan.

Tips: Build the first draft immediately after the performance review and discuss it with your manager during the next 1:1. Use GitMind or a similar mind mapping tool to groom high-leverage activities.

Track

Periodically prime your brain by reviewing the goal-activities mind map and keeping it easily accessible. This simple habit will optimize micro-decisions, track goal progress, detect blockers, and pivot your strategy if necessary.

Also, journal your key accomplishments, learnings, and failures. “What if I missed a key achievement!” and “What failures should I include?” are primary detractors. By jotting high and low lights in real-time, you minimize the review-season anxiety. During my last review, I summarize my recent contributions using M365 CoPilot. It processed my journal and created a self-evaluation draft within seconds.

Finally, anchor your 1:1s around the goals and key activities. Abreast your manager with a pre-1:1 recap so you can use the face time to reflect on successes/failures, seek coaching and guidance on blockers, identify blindspots, and course-correct before it’s too late. Essentially, you involve your manager throughout the review period, instead of surprising them at the end of the cycle.

Seek feedback

Like the product, soliciting feedback is a discipline that should be part of your job, instead of a one-off event. Leverage manager/peer/mentor 1:1 and other interactions to check how you are doing. This will build trust, solicit real-time, actionable feedback, and prevent surprises at the end.

Make it easy for others to give you feedback. By framing “one thing I can do better” or “rate my presentation skills on a scale of 1 through 10”, you create a safe space for them and make their response actionable and conversational.

Time your feedback requests and be specific. Leverage key presentations, product launches, and high-stake meetings to solicit specific, real-time feedback from your trust circle you can apply during the next opportunity.

Lastly, return the favor by prioritizing to respond to feedback requests from your coworkers and offer them meaningful insights to help them grow.

Evaluate performance

Writing self-assessment should now be a formality at this point. Yet, counter the writer’s block by following these tips:

1. Schedule a 60 minutes time to write a “dirty draft”. You can start by pasting your goals and then assessing the progress towards the goal, emphasizing your contributions towards these goals. Include how you influenced a decision or persuaded a team to commit to a particular dependency, or handled a difficult situation within your team that enabled the specific goal. For failures, focus on "what you could have done differently” not how the situation could have been more favorable. And then follow it up with the key learning and how you would adapt the next time.

2. Schedule another 60-minute block to refine, fact-check, and elaborate on the draft. Submit it well in advance to leave your manager enough time to process this and submit his own feedback.

Empathize with your manager’s time and cognitive load. Leave them a sufficient buffer to review by submitting your self-evaluation in advance. Follow a consistent, simple format so can assess your performance easily and objectively. Contextualize them with customer quotes, product dashboards, peer reviews, or any relevant material to showcase your impact.

Last but not least, set goals for your next review period so you can fuel the flywheel.

In conclusion, a performance review is an excellent opportunity to reflect on your achievements, identify areas for improvement, and set goals for the future. By treating this process as a product, you can make the most of this process and ensure that you are well-prepared to discuss your performance with your manager. Make it a deliberate practice to not only take the dread out of that event but transform it into a career-advancing ritual.

To recap, a platform product, by definition, enables other products and services to enhance the value proposition of the platform and create network effects. These complementary products and services are often provided by third-party developers, partners, or vendors who leverage your platform's capabilities and access its user base. For example, Apple's iOS platform enables developers to create apps that run on iPhones and iPads, while Amazon's AWS platform enables partners to offer cloud-based solutions to customers.

As we discussed in Part 1, you first need to earn the license to be a platform, whether you are enabling internal products and services or whether you empower external partners.

Assess the motivation to expand your offering to 3rd party

Assuming you have met the technical prerequisites to being a platform, identify the objective in extending to 3rd party products. A desire to extend your platform to 3rd party typically originates from the need to grow your business. The growth includes the number of acquired or engaged users/subscribers, customers in the case of B2B products, and revenue. For example, Atlassian integrates with 100s of work productivity apps to make their products more compelling to the end users and compelling for the buyers. Having an integrated offering not only makes Atlassian products more well-rounded but also makes them stickier with their paying customers.

Other times, you need partners to bridge a critical gap in your product offering. For example, when early versions of iOS relied on Google Maps to make iPhones essentials to their users and when they had their critical mass, they launched their first-party map app.

Choose your first partner

Once you have validated the business case, you start with a hypothesis and validate it by identifying a 3rd party product that is easy to integrate with and can align with your ecosystem strategy.

While working at Limeade (now part of WebMD), our goal was to grow the Limeade SaaS customers by offering best-in-class well-being tools and products through the Limeade mobile app and web experience. While it was tempting to start with a big brand that could boost our business, we grounded the ecosystem strategy on Limeade’s mission of measurably improving the well-being of the workforce. We envisioned how Janice, our target user persona, achieved her fitness goals by working with virtual coaching (served by a Limeade partner) offered through her employer-sponsored Limeade program. We chose the first partner product that would achieve this objective and was easier to work with. Once we built the integration, and launched it to a few customers, it validated the hypothesis that by integrating with best-in-class tools and solutions, we can improve the efficacy of the Limeade program, make it stickier for our customers, and deliver tangible well-being outcomes for the end users. The lessons from the first partner integration informed a pattern that we could gradually apply to several other partners, including large brands.

Ensure partners move the one metric that matters

Your platform’s success is not measured by the number of partners signed up on your marketplace but by the engagement of the users in the partner-led solutions. Make sure to track and achieve this outcome before you expand and scale your ecosystem.

In my case, it was the number of users signing up for the coaching sessions through the Limeade app. More important was the number of users who finished the coaching program. Ultimately, the success of the Limeade platform was to improve the user’s well-being. And fully utilizing the partner-enabled experience was a prerequisite to the final outcome.

To do so, I optimized not just the native UX but also influenced the end-to-end experience leading in and out of the partner product. This involved aligning the metrics with the partner product team and influencing their roadmap to achieve the shared outcomes to deliver a healthy usage funnel.

Simplify the onboarding for partners

Once you have a healthy adoption of the integrated offering for a couple of partners, automate the steps for the partner to integrate with your platform. Initially, it’s reasonable to handhold your partner developers to integrate with your platform APIs. But as you expand to more partners, ensuring a simple integration experience is key to scaling onboarding new partners. Building easy-to-consume articles, tutorials, and SDKs is part of it but productizing the signup experience, seamlessly generating auth-tokens, and testing the end-to-end experience will deliver a true scale.

To summarize, building a third-party ecosystem around your platform is an effective strategy for growing your business and creating network effects. Before expanding to third-party products, it is important to assess your motivation and validate your business case. Choosing the right partner and tracking engagement metrics is crucial to achieving success. Once you have healthy adoption, automating partner integration and creating a seamless onboarding experience is key to scaling your ecosystem. By incorporating these steps, you can create a thriving ecosystem around your platform and deliver tangible outcomes for your end-users and buyers.

For context, platform products let other products build on them. They create value for the platform and its partners. Platform products can be internal and/or external. Internal platforms are for first-party products and applications within the same company. External platforms are open to third-party developers and applications.

In this post, I will share some tips on how to build internal platform products. These are the products and applications that different teams or divisions in your company develop on your platform. For example, Microsoft Teams is a platform product with internal partners like Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote, etc.

Building platform products can be rewarding to you and your product. It can help you use your company's assets and capabilities, create synergies and efficiencies across products, and deliver more value to your customers. But it also requires careful planning, coordination, communication, and alignment among stakeholders.

Here are some considerations for expanding your product into an internal platform product:

Get the license first

To become a platform, you must be a successful stand-alone product. You need to have a clear value proposition, a loyal customer base, a scalable architecture, and a competitive advantage. You need to prove that your product can solve a real problem and deliver value on its own.

This is important because becoming a platform product is not an end goal, but a means to an end. You should become a platform product only if it helps you achieve your vision and mission better. You should not compromise your core product for more partners. You should not lose sight of your primary customers and their needs.

In the case of the chatbot, the product must meet or exceed the success criteria, including usage, lift in checkouts, deflection rates, etc. And it’s durable in terms of reliability, performance, security, and compliance. If you are struggling to meet these objectives, then expanding this functionality to other areas will multiply your product woes, with the added responsibility of supporting another scenario.

Evaluate strategic fit

Once you have a successful independent product, it will naturally attract opportunities that can lead to its evolution into a platform. You should objectively assess whether expanding as a platform product is a sensible decision. You must ensure that aligning with your vision and mission can facilitate faster and superior goal attainment.

Is it better for your product to grow independently or in collaboration with partners? Do you possess sufficient resources and capabilities? Are there any unaddressed customer needs?

What are the advantages and drawbacks of transitioning into a platform product? How will it influence your value proposition, customer segment, revenue model, cost structure, and so on? How will it impact your current customers?

Intentionally gate inbound opportunities.

Assume you have a successful and growing product, and other teams want to leverage it for their internal needs. To evaluate each partner opportunity, you should consider the following criteria:

1. Customer value: How will the partnership benefit your customers? Will it address a problem, fulfill a need, or improve their experience? Will it enhance their satisfaction, loyalty, or advocacy?

2. Alignment with common objectives and principles: How will the partnership help you achieve your goals or your partner teams ’s goals? Will it mutually increase revenue, growth, retention, engagement, etc.? Will it support your vision and mission? Does it tightly align with the company’s principles? For example, the opportunity doesn’t help your product grow, but it saves cost for the company and thus maps to a higher objective.

3. Sustainability: How can the partnership be maintained in the long term? Will it be mutually beneficial and fair for both parties? Will it be scalable and adaptable to changing customer needs and market conditions? Will it be easy and cost-effective to implement and sustain?

In order to prioritize partner opportunities, focus on those that provide the most value to your customers and your product, while aligning with your objectives and being sustainable in the long run. Avoid partner opportunities that may create conflicts, confusion, or complexity for your customers and your product, and that are not in line with your goals or sustainable in the long term.

For instance, Microsoft Teams is a platform product with internal partners like Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote, and more. Microsoft carefully evaluates and selects each partner opportunity. They give priority to opportunities that create value for their customers, enabling better communication, collaboration, and coordination across products and applications. They also prioritize partnerships that help them achieve their objectives, such as increasing usage, adoption, and retention. Furthermore, Microsoft focuses on sustainable partnerships that are mutually beneficial, scalable, adaptable, and easy to implement and maintain in the long term.

Proactively seek outbound partnerships

Besides evaluating potential partner opportunities, it is crucial to actively search for and develop future synergistic relationships. Identify internal partners who can add value to both your customers and your product, while also aligning with your objectives and being sustainable in the long run. Reach out to them and present your value proposition and vision. Build trust and rapport, and gain an understanding of their needs and goals. Collaborate with them to create solutions and experiences that benefit both parties.

Successful partnerships are not a result of chance or coincidence; they require intentional and purposeful relationship building. Dedicate time and effort to seek out and cultivate the right partners for your platform product. View them as strategic allies rather than transactional vendors or competitors.

For instance, Shopify is a platform product that has various internal partners like Shopify Payments, Shopify Marketing, and Shopify Fulfillment Network. It actively seeks and nurtures future synergies with them. Shopify identifies internal partners who offer value to its customers, enabling them to start, run, and grow their online businesses more easily and effectively. It also identifies partners who can help achieve its objectives, such as increasing revenue, growth, and market share. Furthermore, Shopify focuses on building sustainable long-term partnerships that are mutually beneficial, fair, scalable, adaptable to changing customer needs and market conditions, and easy and cost-effective to implement and maintain.

Once you commit, you must own it

Once you commit, it is crucial to integrate the partnership into your overall strategy and manage it as an integral part of your product. This involves aligning your roadmap, resources, processes, metrics, and other aspects with your partner. Regular and transparent communication with your partner is essential. Furthermore, monitoring and evaluating the performance and impact of the partnership, as well as seeking and acting on feedback, are necessary steps. Addressing any issues or conflicts with your partner and celebrating shared successes and milestones are also important.

Remember that a partnership is not a one-time occurrence or a peripheral project. Instead, it is an ongoing journey and a significant feature of your platform product. Consider your partner as an extension of your team rather than an outsider or an afterthought. Dedicate time and effort to nurturing and cultivating the partnership, rather than neglecting or abandoning it.

Conclusion

Evolving your product into a platform can be a rewarding decision for both you and your product. It is important to ensure that you have a successful independent product first, then evaluate whether transitioning into a platform product aligns with your vision and mission, and intentionally gate inbound partnership opportunities to grow the platform incrementally. These considerations will enable you to create value for your product and its partners, leverage your company's assets and capabilities, and deliver more value to your customers.

Like true love, an ideal job is a myth

Every job has its ups and downs. No job can continuously bring happiness. But here's the good news: Your happiness at work is determined by your perspective, not the job itself.

To be happy at work, three things are important: engagement, finding meaning, and experiencing positive emotions. Engagement means being fully involved in your work, using your skills, and feeling motivated. Finding meaning involves having a sense of purpose, contributing to something important, and aligning your work with your goals and values. Experiencing positive emotions entails enjoying your work, feeling grateful, and maintaining good relationships with your colleagues and customers.

All these factors rely on your mindset. You can increase your happiness at work by changing your mindset. Instead of dwelling on negatives, such as stress or boredom, focus on the positives, such as opportunities or learning experiences. Instead of complaining, appreciate the aspects of your job that you enjoy. Rather than comparing your job to others, be grateful for what you have.

With a positive mindset, most jobs can bring you happiness.

You own your career

You are not a passive victim of your circumstances but an active actor of your destiny.

You own your career, which means you have the power and responsibility to shape it according to your vision and goals. You can decide what work you want to do, where you want to do it, how you want to do it, and with whom.

Of course, there are constraints to consider. You still have to deal with market reality, employer expectations, customer demands, and competition. You have to work hard, deliver results, and prove yourself.

But you have more control and freedom than you think. You are always empowered to explore new opportunities, learn new skills, network, and pursue new projects. Seek feedback, guidance, and support. Express your opinions, share ideas, voice concerns, and propose solutions.

Taking ownership of your career creates value and increases confidence, autonomy, and satisfaction.

Cultivate positive internal conversations about your coworkers.

Your coworkers affect how you feel and perform at work. They can be supportive, inspiring, and fun, or they can cause stress, conflict, and unhappiness. It all depends on how you interact with them and how you think about them.

One way to improve your interactions with coworkers is to have positive thoughts about them. This means thinking positively and respectfully about them even when they're not around.

Having positive thoughts can help you build trust, get along well, and work together with your coworkers. It can also help you avoid or resolve conflicts, misunderstandings, and complaints.

Positive thoughts can also help you see your coworkers in a positive and realistic way. You can recognize their strengths, talents, and contributions, as well as their weaknesses, challenges, and limitations.

Having positive thoughts can also help you understand your coworkers, see things from their perspective, and appreciate their differences.

When you have positive thoughts about your coworkers, you can create a happier and more productive work environment.

Leverage the law of incrementality

The more attention you give to something, the more it will influence your life. This applies to both positive and negative aspects of your job. If you focus on the positive side, like learning opportunities and impact, then they will grow and become more rewarding. On the other hand, if you concentrate on the negative aspects, like stress and frustration, then they will become more dominant and harmful.

To be happy at work, focus on the positive aspects of your job without ignoring the negative ones. Practicing gratitude is a great way to do this. It means appreciating what you have and recognizing the good things that happen at work instead of complaining about what you don't have. Celebrating your achievements is another way to stay positive at work. It helps you boost your self-esteem, motivation, and happiness and inspire others to do the same.

By focusing on the positive aspects of your job, you can make your job more fulfilling and enjoyable while learning from every experience.

It's not about you

Sometimes, we may get too caught up in our own egos and forget the bigger picture of why we are doing what we are doing. We may think that our work is all about us: our performance, reputation, and compensation. We may lose sight of the purpose and meaning of our work: how it serves and helps others.

But remember that it’s not about you; it’s about them: the people you work with, the customers you serve, the business you support. Your work is not just a way to make money or advance your career; it is a way to make a difference and create value. When you focus on being a servant leader, you will find more joy and satisfaction in your work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, finding joy in your current job is not about finding an ideal job that continuously brings happiness. It's about changing your mindset, taking ownership of your career, cultivating positive internal conversations with your coworkers, leveraging the law of incrementality, and remembering the purpose and meaning of your work. These strategies can help you increase your engagement, find meaning, and experience positive emotions at work. With a positive mindset, any job can bring you happiness, and you can create a happier and more productive work environment for yourself and your coworkers.

Distinct yet, nuanced disciplines

Whether you are interested in managing programs or products, it's important to understand that these are two different fields that require different skills and approaches. Here are some key differences:

A program manager oversees the execution of one or multiple programs or initiatives that are aligned with a common goal or strategy. A program manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, tracking, and communicating the progress and status of the program, as well as managing risks, issues, dependencies, and resources. A program manager typically works with multiple stakeholders, such as project managers, engineers, designers, testers, customers, and executives.

For example, a program manager at Spotify oversees the launch of a new subscription tier for premium users. They work with different product managers and stakeholders to coordinate the program strategy and execution. They track and report the program's progress and performance and resolve any issues or risks.

A product manager defines the vision, strategy, and roadmap for a product or a feature. A product manager is responsible for understanding the customer needs and problems, validating the product ideas and assumptions, prioritizing the requirements and backlog, and collaborating with the development team to deliver user value. A product manager typically works closely with engineers and designers and conducts user research, market analysis, and competitive benchmarking.

For example, a product manager at Spotify develops and designs a new feature for personalized playlists. They conduct user research and market analysis to define the product vision and value proposition. They work with the engineering and design teams to deliver the feature according to the product roadmap. They also work with the marketing team to launch and measure the feature’s success.

Assess why you want to become a product manager

Before you dive into the world of product management, it's important to understand why you're drawn to it in the first place. Take a moment to think about what you enjoy most about creating products - maybe you get a thrill out of solving real customer problems, or you just love seeing users get excited about what you've built. If you're looking for more influence over the product vision and direction, or you're excited about collaborating with different teams to make things happen, product management might be a great fit for you. And if you're eager to develop your skills in areas like user research, data analysis, experimentation, and product design, this could be a great opportunity to grow your career.

Whatever your reasons, make sure you're clear on why you're interested in product management - that way, you'll be able to pursue it with passion and purpose!

Transition opportunities

If you are directionally convinced that product management is the right fit for you, it’s worth considering the career growth opportunities that you are uniquely positioned to access. Let me break it down for you:

Leverage your existing skills and experience: As a program manager, you have some valuable skills and experience that can help you thrive as a product manager. Think about it – your technical knowledge, project management skills, and cross-functional experience are like gold! They'll help you understand the feasibility, viability, and desirability of your product. For example,

Use your project management skills to manage your own work as a product manager to plan your tasks, track your progress, manage your time, handle risks, and report your status.

Use your communication skills to articulate your product vision, strategy, roadmap, and features to various stakeholders. You can use the methods you used as a program manager to write documents, present slides, and lead meetings.

Use your collaboration skills to build strong relationships with your cross-functional team members. You can use the same approaches that you used as a program manager to establish trust, resolve issues, and align goals.

Expand your skillset and knowledge: As a product manager, you'll have the chance to learn new skills and gain knowledge that'll take your personal and professional growth to the next level. Imagine being able to research, validate, and prioritize customer problems and needs. Plus, you can learn how to design, test, and launch solutions that deliver incredible value to both customers and the business.

Deliver a bigger impact: As a product manager, you'll have the opportunity to build products that solve real problems and make a significant impact on your organization by driving customer satisfaction and business growth. This can potentially enable more fulfillment in your existing role.

Challenges

However, as a program manager, you may also have some gaps or areas of improvement that you need to address before becoming a product manager. For example, you may need to:

Embracing a new mindset: As a program manager, you're accustomed to following pre-defined plans, scopes, and timelines for your projects. However, as a product manager, you must navigate daily ambiguity, uncertainty, and change. Embracing a more agile and iterative approach will be essential, where you consistently learn from feedback and data.

Acquiring familiarity with new tools and frameworks: While you may be well-versed in using tools like Gantt charts, work breakdown structures (WBS), or status reports as a program manager, as a product manager, you'll need to acquaint yourself with new tools such as customer interviews, value proposition canvas, or prototypes.

Collaborating with diverse stakeholders: As a program manager, you may have already established solid relationships with project teams, stakeholders, sponsors, and vendors. However, as a product manager, you'll need to work alongside different types of individuals, including customers, partners, users, engineers, designers, or marketers.

Providing customer value: As a program manager, your focus may have been on delivering solutions that fulfill the specifications and expectations of your stakeholders and sponsors. Yet, as a product manager, you'll need to validate your assumptions and hypotheses about your customer's problems and needs. Testing your solutions with actual users and evaluating their impact and value will become crucial.

Enable a gradual transition

Transitioning from program manager to product manager is not easy, but it is possible if you are willing to learn new skills, take on new responsibilities, and demonstrate your value as a product manager. Here are some steps that you can take to make the transition smoother:

Learn the fundamentals of product management: Books, blogs, podcasts, courses, and certifications can help you learn the basics of product management. Some topics you should familiarize yourself with are customer development, lean startup, agile methodology, user stories, user personas, user journeys, wireframes, prototypes, MVPs (minimum viable products), metrics, OKRs (objectives and key results), etc.

Find a mentor: Getting a mentor who's been through a similar transition or an experienced product manager will be a game-changer.

One of my coaching clients went from program managing customer-signals data to building a customer-signals product that could scale to multiple teams. He delivered a bigger impact on his team and moved up in his career. What a win-win for him and his team! (learn more about my coaching at https://www.criya.site/pmnirvana)

Build a portfolio: Showcasing your passion and potential as a product manager is key, and building a portfolio is a fantastic way to do it. Whether it's the projects from your current or previous roles as a program manager or something you've worked on independently, like a side project or a hobby, creating a collection of your achievements speaks volumes. For instance, you could build a low/no-code product to help non-profits recruit volunteers or automate the billing process for a local small business.

Network with other product managers: Engage with other product managers who can share valuable insights and experiences with you. Attend events, meetups, webinars, and podcasts, or join online communities all focused on product management. And to get started, check out active forums like Product School, Product Tank, or Women in Product – they'll get you on the right track.

Seek feedback and learning opportunities: Seek feedback from your mentor, peers, managers, customers, users, engineers, designers, marketers, and all those amazing cross-functional teams. Feedback can come from data, metrics, experiments, and user testing too. Working on different types of products, industries, markets, customers, and challenges is another incredible way to enhance your learning.

Apply for internal or external product manager roles: Finally, when you feel ready and confident in your skills and portfolio as a product manager, you can start applying for internal or external product manager roles. You can leverage your network of contacts within your organization or industry to learn about open positions or opportunities.

After I switched from engineering, my first job resembled much like a technical program manager. I was tasked with an initiative to shard the database horizontally. Instead of functioning as a program manager, I asked hard ROI, feasibility, and risk questions. Eventually, the CTO agreed to pause the project. This helped me focus on finding and launching growth features for our product which helped me earn the trust of the leadership team as a product manager.

Start exposing your profile to product roles at LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor to assess your brand. When applying for product manager roles, make sure to highlight your relevant skills, experience, and achievements as a program manager and as a product manager. Also, prepare well for the interviews by researching the company, the product, and the customers, as well as practicing common product manager questions and scenarios. Here’s an action-packed resource to accelerate your resume-building and job application endeavors.

You're ready! With these insights and guidance, you have what it takes to shift from program management to product management effortlessly.

Conclusion

Transitioning from program manager to product manager is a challenging but rewarding career move. It requires you to learn new skills, take on new responsibilities, and demonstrate your value as a product manager. However, if you are passionate about creating products that solve real customer problems and delight users, you will find the transition worthwhile and fulfilling. I hope this blog post has given you some useful tips and insights on transitioning from program manager to product manager. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or contact me at pmnirvana.com. Thank you for reading, and good luck with your transition! 🚀