10 Questions to Ask Yourself Everyday as a Product Manager

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Product is hard, and there are so many dimensions to think and act. You can do Product Management for a decade and still not be the perfect Product Manager. The role evolves, and you need to keep growing to become a better version of yourself. The product is a reflection of a Product Manager and the entire team behind it. The more you improve, the more your product improves in the long run.

Here are some questions that you should ask yourself every day as a product manager. It will make you think, reflect, correct and keep you on the path to improvement. As you ask these questions to yourself, many examples will pop in your head that either supports or conflict with the question. In either case, it will provide you better direction every day. A small improvement every day will differentiate you in the long run.

1. Am I caring for the customer?

This is common sense for a Product Manager but often left out as we start assuming our customers. You need to understand the customer, care for them and ensure you are solving the right problem for them. This question will remind you of your customer every day.

2. Am I taking risks?

If you come from an entrepreneurial background, this will come naturally to you in everyday life. For Product Managers coming from engineering, sales, marketing background, the meaning of risk could be a ‘calculated risk’ because they have never lived on the edge of the business/startup. You need to redefine risk for yourself and the company. A bigger risk favors bigger rewards. You can break the pattern, enter the adjustment market, differentiate and grow fast. Not taking the risk is itself a risk, so you better take one. Review if you are pushing yourself to take significant risks to impact positively.

3. Am I thinking out of the box?

Traditional products and services will be challenged by technology and newer processes. To stay relevant & differentiate yourself and the product, you need to think differently. Get your team motivated to solve bigger problems or do things differently. Challenge the status quo. Review it every day to ensure you don’t forget to innovate.

4. Am I becoming a good leader?

Handling the crisis, leading the team, standing strong for the team, providing thought leadership, genuine caring for the team, stepping to resolve conflicts, and driving your company’s core values are some key attributes of a good leader. It does not come overnight, and deliberate thinking is required to get a good maturity level. You need to count on your experiences, failures, successes, team, instincts, and guts to get there.

5. Am I becoming a great PM?

There are so many hard skills required to become a great PM. Industry knowledge, domain expertise, competitive landscape, technology changes, process changes, political changes, data and analytics, user behaviors, and more. Each day the world around us changes in so many ways. Being aware of the change is the first step. Connecting the dots to make inferences out of it is the sign of a great PMs. This question should doubt your awareness and force you to stay relevant or even ahead in the game.

6. Am I learning every day?

Deliberate efforts to learn something new in the field will keep you ahead. Use technology, books, videos, social media, blogs to your advantage to grab as much knowledge as every day. Review if you are spending 30mins minimum to learn/read/watch something that will take you a step ahead. You will be an interesting person as you will have so much to talk about and share. You will bring valuable points to the table that can make a difference.

7. Am I thinking long term?

I am a big fan of Amazon shareholder letters, and ‘long-term thinking’ is a pattern visible there. You see the difference that Amazon has brought in our day-to-day life. All due to their long-term thinking. Every decision you are taking or every feature you are building should pass this test of long-term thinking. If it makes sense in the long run and will work in the long run, invest your time, money, and efforts.

8. Am I learning from failure?

Failure is part and parcel of your life. You can’t assume you are fail-proof no matter your experience. Accept it and give room to fail yourself. If you don’t, you are not risking enough, which is the secret sauce for failure. Use failure as your launchpad to bounce back strongly. Jot down your learnings from failure.

9. Am I helping people grow?

If you grow alone, you are a lousy leader. You need to get the best of people and grow their talent. You, too, started from scratch and made your way up. Give a helping hand for the next generation to succeed. These will be the leaders you can rely in the future and be proud of. People need coaching, guidance, a direction as they are on their growth journey.

10. Am I caring about the environment?

This one is the odd man out of all the above questions. As you build your product or service, you don’t build it out of thin air. You need raw material. This can be a physical materials or technology component. In either case, we want our earth to be left in good condition while we make a living. There are numerous examples I have read about selective use of raw materials to ensure they do not harm the environment when the product lifecycle ends. The more we care today, it will benefit our next generations.