The First 100 Days
We have all seen a ton of books and articles on the first 90 days of a new job. While that is great, in my opinion, waiting for Day 1 of your job is still to late. I coach my clients to focus on the first 100 days of their new role starting 10 days before they begin.
We all need to unplug before a new role, but who are we kidding, even when unplugging, we are all thinking and dreaming about our new roles. I encourage making that thinking and daydreaming more productive.
I run a program for people who want to excel in their new roles. I call it the First 100 Days program. It is a combination of resources and weekly or bi-weekly coaching.
Pre-Work
I have clients meet me 10 days before their new job to discuss their hopes and fears. I follow it up with a list of recommended actions to prepare them for both good and bad bosses. Statistics show that roughly 82% of managers aren’t very good. In product, it might be worse because strong executors get promoted for what they have accomplished, not how they mentor or lead teams.
Before the job starts, I encourage self-reflection. What are you good at, what are you bad at? Prepare a Read Me document. Even if no one else sees the document, it drives clients to reflect on strengths and weaknesses. This reflection period helps them focus on doing well at their job and managing up.
I also have clients prepare more directly on managing up. I give them tools to help guide managers who will react poorly if they hear talk of walking to get promoted before the client has proven themselves.
Since 80% or more of what a product manager does is communicate, I also provide tools for weekly and monthly communication. We brainstorm about ways to earn trust early on. A lot will depend on the team, but talking about it before they start helps clients find the right thing earlier. They are more focused during their listening tour.
The Next 30 Days
The first week is typically easy, with lots of reading. If your manager is good, you get a welcome document with enough to keep you busy for a month. But if you have an overwhelmed manager, you might get thrown into chaos; we never know. I provide flexible coaching; we can meet in the first or the second week. In the first five weeks, we have at least four coaching sessions to help decipher things. It depends on seniority, previous experiences, and current situation.
Good product managers should have a listening tour and one small item they are trying to tackle in this first month. I can be a sounding board for my clients in these early days. Common problems include: “My boss doesn’t have time for me.” or “I can’t get a read on what really motivates them.” and even “The company just reorganized and the person who hired me is no longer my boss. How do I navigate this?”
Days 31 to 60
This is where work starts to pick up, but the product manager in a new role still hasn’t figured out how to navigate politics and processes. Every day is exhausting. It can be hard to stay alert in meetings where every single new word requires extra time to process, especially with the acronyms tech is famous for. We meet every other week during this period. The cadence is up to the client. The focus here is learning to read their manager and skip levels. If the company is data-driven, it can be easier to navigate. Companies where the goalposts are always moving are a bit more difficult to navigate, so we talk through those issues.
Days 61 to 90
The product manager should be settling into the role by the start of the third month. Strong PMs will begin to win the trust of their colleagues. But they are still mentally exhausted daily because most things still have a high cognitive load.
Before the end of this month, if they haven’t already, they need to set expectations with their manager on promotion paths. I don’t mean the simple explanation they got in onboarding, I mean setting expectations and opening the conversation so that the manager doesn’t feel cornered in X months when the manager tries to tell the product manager it will be another 18 to 24 months before they can get promoted. Keep an open dialogue so you can keep improving.
Most product managers don’t stay at a company more than two years, and a lot of that is due to lack of upward mobility. If this is really the company they want to invest in longer-term, they need to have a conversation while it is still early and hypothetical and not angry and threatening. Starting the conversation keeps less experienced managers from having to dread bringing it up. I provide tools that work for both the product manager and their boss where leveling can be accomplished in a safe space.
90+ Days
Everyone is different; some people like investing in themselves. Others find they want more time before re-engaging in coaching. For those who don’t continue on weekly, most know I am here when they do run into a problem and book me to bounce ideas off of when stuck or navigate out of tough situations.
If this all sounds like something you want or need, learn more on here.
