When you are product manager, your work is never really done. The initial launch is just the opportunity to collect more data. You learn about how people use the product, analyse the data and come up with experiments to increase usage. Many of those fail and never make it to the product. Those that do, become new features.
In 2020 there is a treasure trove of training material, online courses and best practices on product management, some of it from the top PMs in the world. But when I first became a product manager at GLG in 2005, that wasn’t the case. One thing I believe remained a constant in the last 15 years is that to be a great product manager, you need to be very curious.
A product starts with an idea. Once formulated, the idea can become a vision. What informs your vision is your outlook, which is fuelled by your own life experiences and reference points. To be curious, is to expand that frame of reference significantly. It’s basically a commitment to continue learning and draw best practices from anywhere.
Like a chef admiring the spices in a street food market, the curious product manager goes about her day looking for UI/UX patterns, great onboarding experiences and features that make a product great. Inspiration can literally come from anywhere. One of my favourite things back in the day was to to sign up to every ‘beta’ on MoMb (Museum of Modern Betas, which amazingly, still exists).
Every product I got to try was the result of ideas and experiments. I could get inspiration from what worked, and equally, what didn’t. By observing other products, I was taking a step back from my own, sometimes seeing it more clearly when I came back.
When I talk to founders early in their entrepreneurial journey, I often recommend them to do an immersive experience into their field. Download all the apps, sign up for the newsletters, follow the leaders in the field on social media, and get inspired.
Ultimately, truly great products are original. But creativity is about connecting seemingly unrelated ideas. So my advice, if you’re willing to take it, is get curious. Whether it’s getting your daily dose of Producthunt, downloading a new app per week or reading show HN on Hackernews, the bigger the frame of reference, the bigger the inspiration.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
