Imposter Syndrome

If a company hires you as a Product Manager, are you the product expert? Almost by definition, no; you’re a new hire and an uphill struggle awaits you.

“Hey Chris, meet Marco, our new Product Manager. He’s joining our team and is responsible for our Product Roadmap.”

There you are, set up to disappoint your colleagues from day one.  Aren’t you looking forward to your new job?

I’ve been through my share of onboarding periods as a Product Manager. High expectations, urgent needs and little context: no pressure, man, we count on you to make this work. Right, thanks boss.

I’m pretty confident that I surprise exactly no one when I say that a new Product Manager is not the product expert. At best, they are a Product Management expert.

So what do I do in those circumstances? Basic Product Management 101: manage the expectations of my stakeholders, inexorably. Communicate my 90-day plan, on repeat, and get my colleagues’ feedback, get them to tell it to me in their own words, suggest ways of working together in this mode, and so on.

It will involve steps like learning about the product, the strategy, the organisation. You will want to underline your desire to learn from your colleagues, understand their roles and objectives, their expectations around the Product organisation. You are a sponge.

Conspicuously absent in this list of what to do is anything to do with presenting yourself as the go-to product expert. On the contrary, make your curiosity your hallmark: who knows best? Is it the developers? User experience, the business stakeholders? Do we have access to the customer, the user? Shout it from the rooftops: I am a product novice, I am here to learn!

The Imposter Syndrome is hard enough to deal with as you battle your own insecurity. Don’t provide the ammunition to those around you as you work your way up to true product proficiency.

You’ll see — you’ll get there.