Your next 30 to 60 days as a Product Manager

As you move through your next 30 to 60 days, remember that the journey of a product manager is like that of the products you manage: a continuous cycle of learning, adapting, and delivering value.

I had just finished my first month at a new company only a few weeks ago when I wrote about your first 30 days as a product manager. If you’re starting a new role or project or joining a new team, I hope you’ve also been able to get value out of that post. And wouldn’t you know it, a product manager is leaving our company, and I get to take over their responsibilities and team. You bet I’ll follow the same advice from the first 30 days with that team.

At the same time, our original journey has continued past the 30-day mark, so what happens next? In your first 30 days, it’s about getting the lay of the land, understanding how things work, documenting, and setting expectations. Between 30 and 60 days, you should focus more on fostering collaboration, value delivery with minimum changes to existing frameworks and processes, and strategic planning.

We covered weeks 1–4 in the previous post, so let’s start at week 5.

This post was originally published in my Substack Newsletter, Roadmap Weekly.

Continuous Value Delivery (Week 5)

How do you deliver continuous value? You should be getting into a rhythm now, which will help you immensely as you pick up more work. Here are a few things you can do to help ensure you don’t fall behind:

• Check in on your many projects several times a week. Scheduling and blocking out time for this is essential as you ramp up and become busier.
• This brings me to my next point: it’s critical to be time-blocking your calendar to ensure you have sufficient time to work on each project.
• Look for new opportunities. This can range from taking on new initiatives to finding small ways you can help other teams build trust.

Improve your processes (Week 5 and Ongoing)

As a new product manager at your company, it is tempting to change everything about how the work gets done. Avoid that temptation, at least for now, and focus on delivering value within the existing frameworks and processes.

This will give you a better understanding of the shortcomings of the process, and you don’t have enough sway yet to make many changes without putting a target on your back anyway.

You can still work on your internal processes, though. This could be internal to you or your team. Making changes here will catch the attention of other teams (if these changes work well for you and your team), and other teams will adapt your processes.

• Learn what’s going well and what needs improvement. Retros can be a great way to do this, and it may have been a while since your team has had one. See my post on sprint retros for some great tips on getting the most value.
• Make incremental changes to processes, and use your same product development skills when doing this.
• Enlist the support of your engineering management counterparts, product owners, or scrum masters. Processes are everywhere; anyone involved can contribute to their improvement and continuing operation.

Deepen Relationships and Foster Collaboration (Week 6 and Ongoing)

By now, you should understand your company’s team dynamics and workflows well. It’s time to deepen relationships and foster collaboration across teams.

• You should continue with your regular check-ins with key stakeholders and team members to understand their pain points and gather feedback on ongoing projects.
• Encourage cross-functional collaboration by identifying opportunities for teams to work together more effectively. Initiate small cross-functional projects to build rapport and trust.
• Use the feedback gathered to refine your approach and make informed decisions. Show that you value input by implementing suggestions when possible and providing reasoning when not.

Evaluate and Adjust (Week 6 to 7 and Ongoing)

Evaluate your progress and make necessary adjustments to ensure continuous improvement. This might require setting up some metrics to measure progress.

• If they didn’t exist when you started, now’s the time to set key performance indicators (KPIs) for your teams. Are you on track to meet your goals? Identify any areas that need attention.
• Analyze any roadblocks that have slowed your progress. Develop a plan to address these challenges and prevent future issues.
• Based on your observations and feedback, make minor adjustments to existing processes to enhance efficiency and productivity.

Get Strategic (Week 8 and Ongoing)

In preparation for your next 30 days (days 60 to 90), start to spend some time on strategy. Depending on the seniority of your role, this could take place in different ways. Regardless, even as a junior product manager, opportunities for strategy exist.

• Define clear, long-term objectives for your product and team. Align these goals with the company’s vision and mission, and Set KPIs as part of the Evaluate and Adjust process.
• Create a roadmap outlining steps and priorities to achieve your team’s strategic goals. Communicate this roadmap to your team and stakeholders. See my series on roadmapping for a deep dive.
• Encourage your team to think creatively and propose innovative solutions. Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous learning to feed back into the ongoing strategy work you’ll continue to do.

As you move through your next 30 to 60 days, remember that the journey of a product manager is like that of the products you manage: a continuous cycle of learning, adapting, and delivering value. Each phase brings its own set of challenges and opportunities. By building solid relationships, evaluating your progress, and setting strategic goals, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the complexities of your role.

Transitioning into a new role or project is never easy, but you can make a significant impact with a structured, collaborative approach and growth mindset. Embrace the journey, stay curious, and seek ways to innovate and improve. Here’s to your continued success!

Not sure how to plan your first 30 days or the next? Get my 30 day template which includes a real world example of your first 30 days: Get the template

This post was originally published in my Substack Newsletter, Roadmap Weekly.