6 Lessons From My First Year as a Product Manager at Microsoft
By: Naman Mehra
Tags: Microsoft, Lessons Learned, Technology, Product Management, University Recruiting

Don’t Be a Fly on the Wall

Be Vocal!

Starting off, I knew Product Managers (PMs) had a lot of meetings. But I didn’t realize my day would revolve around meetings, each differing in intensity, productiveness and impact.

I was instantly surrounded by senior and principal PMs. Their tenure at Microsoft span decades and it was anxiety-inducing to ask questions, let alone give insights.

However, I knew this wasn’t the time to sit around and wait. I wasn’t going to get a cheat sheet. I had to take control of what I learnt.

I read anything I could get my hands on, began asking the dumbest questions, and set up countless follow up meetings (yes, more meetings) to dive deeper into core technologies and concepts.

I knew people loved talking, especially when you let them be an “expert” on a topic. This worked out perfectly as I gained invaluable wisdom and information without having to derive it myself.

Once I got comfortable with the domain knowledge and understood my colleagues ideas, I relied on my intuition and analytical ability to derive novel insights and further conversations.

With these tools in my pocket, it was much easier to raise my voice during meetings. My ideas were not always interesting or new, but I wasn’t afraid anymore.

Do Something Novel

Out with the old, in with the new.

As a junior PM your project scope will be defined by your manger and/or senior PMs. However, there is always wiggle room to do new things.

Find that area as soon as possible.

I found the most luck in two areas in particular. Features that had some effort put into it before they got pushed to the backlog and projects that make a process efficient.

For projects in the backlog, I spent some free time observing the progress made on the project and discovered what landed it in the backlog. I did my due diligence to determine if there was an application for it now. If the answer was yes, I determined if my effort and time would drive it to completion.

Finding areas to streamline is hard as a new employee but I used what I learnt in school and trusted myself. I broke down complex processes into parts and noticed if any single part could be made more efficient.

Once I knew what I wanted to do, I discussed my strategy with my manager. I gave them the context, proposed a solution and laid out a timeline.

No guarantees your manager will support your solution or even the area you want to explore. If they do, no time to celebrate; you have a project to complete.

Before you begin, understand and accept that you might fail. Let that motivate you to work harder.

Document your process and demonstrate incremental progress to ensure your time is not wasted.

Manage Your Time: The 80–20 Rule

“Cooper, this is no time for caution.”

When I was working on my first large deliverable, I was slowly falling behind deadlines. I was busy perfecting every minuscule detail and ignored the larger picture. I believed that excellence would supersede any external deadlines.

Oh, how wrong I was.

My manager called me in half way through and told me, as politely as he could, I had to get my s**t together. He clearly pointed out that, unlike University, there is no ‘right’ way and perfection isn’t in the mantra of Agile.

I had to follow the 80–20 rule aka the Pareto Principal.

The principal states, “roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”

I needed to focus my energy at the core 20% of the project to ensure I could deliver 80% of the project’s results. This meant that I would be efficient while delivering quality work.

If there was time to spare I could put effort into closing the gap on the last 20%.

It is better to deliver something, than not deliver at all.

Captain Your Ship: The 70–20–10 Rule

During the first weeks of onboarding I was drowning in information and acronyms. Even if I spent all eight hours a day digging through documentation and taking copious notes, nothing would make sense.

I had to connect the dots.

There’s a famous saying in the corporate world:

The employees figure out the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, while the leaders care about the ‘why.’

It is imperative you understand the ‘why’ behind the work you’re about to take on. This will help guide you in the right direction and ensure you’re focusing on key ideas and concepts as you’re overloaded with information.

A Principal PM told me to follow the 70–20–10 rule to manage my time.

I had to spend 70% of my time getting up to speed on my current project, delivering and making a meaningful impact.

I could spare 20% of my time understanding and really diving into the ‘why’ behind the project. I figured out the work being done by neighboring teams, understood our competitors and kept up with the technology outside of the company.

With the last 10% of my time, I spent time deeply understanding the vision of company and the leadership.

With this context, it was much easier to focus and deliver only the key items.

Foster Connections and Build Trust

People make or break a team.

The key to any strong personal or professional relationship is trust.

Learn about each team members’ values. Their values directly affect their motivation and working style. With this knowledge, you’ll be better at keeping people on your good side.

You’ll also notice that each team member has a different, sometimes conflicting, working style. To work constructively with everyone, you’ll have to mirror your working style to match each individual. Don’t forgo your values, but be flexible as you’re the newbie.

If you expect your team members to help and trust you, you have go above and beyond for them first. Prove your reliability, eagerness and quality in your work and any collaborative work.

Lastly, become a bridge between team members. Bring together the expertise of various individuals to solve a common problem. As you solve problems together, you’ll build trust. You’ll be seen as a thought leader.

Sit at the Adults Table

Not going to lie, this one is hard.

After you execute everything immaculately from the first five steps and your manager recognizes your abilities. They will reward you by creating visibility for your work. This could mean presenting to senior PMs and managers.

Once you’ve proved yourself, you might even have a chance to sit in on integral decisions on the direction of the team.

Do everything you must to get invited to these meetings. Just don’t beg.

If you do find yourself at this meeting: listen intently.

Internally analyze all that is being discussed and get to the core of why people are pushing for a certain vision of another.

Personally, I wouldn’t try to chime in. If you do have an epiphany, write it down and discuss it with your manager after the meeting.

As you get better at distilling information, apply insights into your day-to-day work. Proactively improving your work by applying what you learn in these meetings will not go unnoticed.

Recap

Starting your career is unquestionably nerve-racking. You have to prove your abilities, establish trust and make an impact. This might trigger the impostor syndrome in you, but remember that you earned the position you are in and everyone started there.

Give value to what you’ve learnt from your past professional and personal experiences and trust your instinct.

Good luck out there!