For those of us that have switched jobs before, we know how essential the first month can be. The crucial on-boarding process is where you begin creating relationships, understanding the internal jargon and workings of the company, all while figuring out the scope of your role and how you can make impact. This talk focused on how to effectively onboard as a product manager. Apart from Vikram's takeaways, the talk contained personally crowdsourced takeaways from among some seasoned Product Managers in the Bay Area.

1. Onboarding Effectively as a Product
Manager by former Google Product Manager
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7. Tonight’s Speaker
Vikram Chatterji

8. ONBOARDING
EFFECTIVELY AS A
PRODUCT MANAGER.
ACME

9. Contents
1. Why discuss onboarding?
1. A framework for effective onboarding

10. Onboarding is an exciting phase,
but can be daunting.

11. Onboarding is an exciting phase,
but can be daunting.
New :
/ People
/ Work culture
/ Team structures
/ Communication styles
/ Internal processes
/ Technical systems
/ Product goals/mission
/ Business model
/ Target user group
And more ...

12. Onboarding is an exciting
phase, but can be daunting, and
is
experienced increasingly often.
Average employee retention
rates among tech companies
hover around 1.5 years.
Source

13. Onboarding =
Lots of moving parts.
people. product. process.

14. Onboarding =
Lots of moving parts.
people.
Core product team
Broader product team (typically in >200
employee companies)
Core engineering team
(in particular: engg lead/manager)
Design counterpart
Sales / Marketing
Engg / product / Design leadership

15. Onboarding =
Lots of moving parts.
product.
Your product (history and
roadmap)
Peripheral products (history and
roadmap)
Users / Customers
Design guidelines and strategy
Sales / Growth strategies
Technical architecture

16. Onboarding =
Lots of moving parts.
process.
X-functional communication
Reviews and standups
Bugs / ticket filing
Data / querying tool(s)
File sharing preferences
Design testing/sharing tools
Release / QA process

17. Frameworks FTW.

18. Framework for onboarding.
1. Generalized framework.
caveats.
Impact
Time
Large
company
Small
company

19. Framework for onboarding.
1. Generalized framework.
1. What makes a PM effective?
caveats.
‘Will your absence have a positive,
negative or zero impact on the
product, process and people?’

20. Framework for onboarding.
Timeline.
Goals.
Methods.

21. Framework for onboarding.
Day 0 Day 30 Day 60
Start!

22. Framework for onboarding.
Day 0 Day 30 Day 60
Start!
Day -30
Offered
the job.

23. Framework for onboarding.
Day 0Day -30
Start!Offered
the job.
Goal
Building an unbiased opinion
about the product and its
market fit.

24. Framework for onboarding.
Day 0Day -30
Start!Offered
the job.
Goal
Building an unbiased opinion
about the product and its
market fit.
Methods
Read up about industry trends
Understand and use similar products
Think deeply about product-fit and differentiators
Gather an understanding of the users/customers

25. Framework for onboarding.
Day 30Day 0
Goal
Getting a systemic
understanding of the
company/org and the product
roadmap.

26. Framework for onboarding.
Day 30Day 0
Goal
Getting a systemic
understanding of the
company/org and the product
roadmap.
Methods
1:1s with the core team and X-fn eng/product/design leads
1:1s with higher level decision makers
Internalize the product history and roadmap
Deeply understand and use the broader product
Set up and use communication and data gathering systems
Set up an instance of the dev environment

27. Framework for onboarding.
Day 60Day 30
Goal
Setting yourself up for
deliverable execution.

28. Framework for onboarding.
Day 60Day 30
Goal
Setting yourself up for
deliverable execution.
Methods
List of tangible small wins
Active role in key team meetings
Tools for constant user feedback
Meet your users / customers
Build and socialize product direction

29. Parting Thoughts.
Focus on the people, product and process.
“What can I do to make your life easier?”
Have fun onboarding, but be cognizant of your
progress.

30. Further Reading.
What to do in your first 30 days as a PM [Ken Norton]
Onboarding as a Product Manager [Yammer]
Onboarding a Product Manager [Intercom]
The First 90 Days [Book by Michael Watkins]
Onboarding a New Product Manager [Avichal Garg]
Feel free to reach out with questions or feedback:
vikram.chatterji@gmail.com

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