Learning from Another Product Manager - follow up story
Better Product Management from Guest Posts
What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are for premium subscribers to Product Management IRL.
This week’s backstory is what I learned from recent guest posts:
How to Prevent Being Buried by Work as a Product Manager With Maarten Dalmijn
Case Study: Customer Journey Map with Operating Principles With Paweł Huryn
The Unique Challenges of FinTech Product Management With Sam Kawasarani
3 Tools to Manage Up Easily With Robert Ta
What It Takes to Build Products for Millions With Wayne Chen
What Prompted the Guest Posts?
Maarten and Paweł called out to their readers inviting guest posts for their upcoming summer vacations. I proposed an article to each of them. I was surprised that they agreed to let me post on their newsletters.
After the guest posts, three writers approached me to guest post in my newsletter.
Each posting appeared to be a simple transaction. In each case, there was much more than a simple transaction!
What Happened After the Guest Posts?
Each guest post was an emotional roller coaster! Getting and giving feedback without a relationship is difficult. And feedback over written messages asynchronously adds more to the emotions.
I also worried about driving readers away - either their readers or my readers.
I learned some new product management insights from the guest posts:
Collaboration improves the outcome: working together on a piece took it from good to excellent.
Every piece of communication needs a hook: be clear on why they should listen to you
Know your audience: Some people like an introductory story, and others don’t. If you don't know your audience, cut to the meat of your communication.
Another benefit of a newsletter is that it allows me to practice product techniques. In many cases, I can try a product technique that I can’t practice in my B2B product management job.
Each relationship with these other product managers gave me new product techniques to try:
Paweł Huryn: As you scale your product you need to use analytics more
Maarten Dalmijn: Explain the why before your main point.
Sam Kawasarani: Know the regulations for your product to save your team’s time.
Wayne Chen: Compliment decisions with analytics.
Robert Ta: Weekly report to summarize your accomplishments and plans.
Valuable learning!
Takeaways from the Backstory
The next time I think there isn’t enough time to get to know a product manager, I’ll remember what I learned from guest posting. Product management relationships bring benefits!