Season 2 - Newsletter 08 --> Micro-edition | The First 90 Days as a New PM

Friends,

In this edition we try to answer another really popular question that we get from both new or more seasoned Product Managers. How should I approach my first few days, weeks and or months? I’ve decided to answer this question into parts. This edition will focus on answering this question for Associate Product Managers or product people with less than five years of experience. In the next edition, I will tailor my answer for product leaders.

As always we appreciate you sharing this newsletter if you think it could help a peer of yours improve their product skillset.

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Q: Why 90 days, why not 30 or 2 weeks? Where does 90 days come from anyways?

The concept of planning the first 90 days of a transition or new roles was really canonized by the book “The First 90 Days” by Michael D. Watkins . The original text was aimed at senior leaders. But since its first printing the idea of planned first 90 days has been democratized to the point where it should be considered at for all levels during a time of transition to a new role or organization.

Interestingly, I haven’t found why 90 days as the period vs 30 or 60, but one can sagely assume that the time period selected is what on average it takes to be fully onboarded see assimilated in a new organization.

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Photo by Gia Oris on Unsplash

Q: I just got a new Product Management job, initiative. What should I do in my first 90 day?

Most important thing to remember is to plan and be deliberate. Don’t rush into it. For an Associate Product Manager take a look at the 30-day plan coming later this week. If you have a few years of experience or more, the a 90-day plan should be what you strive for. A good 90-day plan will be centered around the following:

1. Getting an understanding of your product, the customer and your industry quickly but deliberately

2. Getting an understand of the center of powers, the priorities and your allies within your organization

3. Establishing and executing on high level goals

Those outcomes on a 90 day plan look like this:

Day 1-30:

• Complete new hire training and look for onboarding that is specific to your product, department or role

• Get access / try your product and built out a least of improvements. Do not share this list and aim for coming up with 100 improvements within the first week.

• Get invites to your team rituals (stand ups, refinements and planning)

• Meet with each of the team members and try to understand

  • challenges they have faced

  • opportunities they have seen

  • Happy or unhappy with the status quo

  • what makes them get up in the morning

  • what keeps them up at night

• Ask your manager for a list of their peers you should meet and schedule 1:1s with them. Don’t forget to cast a wide net.

By the end of the Day 30, you should have a long list of enhancements that can be made, be able to articulate the customers top 3 pain points, and which peers and managers can accelerate or slow down your progress

Tip: When meeting with your new colleagues, it’s really important to be concise and ask many questions. Resist the urge to surface an opinion about a product feature, process or structure. Whatever you do, absolutely do not insert the words “at my previous employer we did X”. Assume your initial observations and ideas have already been heard.

Day 31-60

• Get invites to higher level rituals, like roadmap calls

• Attend a fellow PMs roadmap meeting to get a sense of how the meeting is structured and the type of questions they get

• Of the enhancements you have noted, formulate a prioritized list.

• At this point you should have identified or be well on your way to identifying a strong ally or coach. Who is likeminded in the org.

• Speak with key internal stakeholders

• Look for quick wins. Surface an insight from a conversation with a customer, or a minor process improvement.

By the end of the Day 60, you should be able to list out 2-3 bets and what paths within the organization you will need to engage to execute those enhancement. Think beyond operationally who are dependent team, but which stakeholders, peers and managers you will need to socialize the enhancements with.

Day 61-90

• Lead rituals (Stand ups, refinement or planning)

• Start being seen as the customer, product or industry expert on your focus area

• Have a roadmap and lead a call socializing that roadmap with your peers and leaders

• Move from quick wins to moderate wins

By the end of the your 90 day period, you’ve hopefully confirmed that this new role or organization will make a nice home for you. You’ve identified allies and are on your way to gaining their trust and you’ve got an idea of how you will uniquely contribute to the success of your product, team or org.

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