You need to figure out which skills you want to improve and what kind of product manager (PM) you want to be. Regardless if you want to be a generalist or an expert, you must have a particular set of skills to succeed. The skills you need depend on what you enjoy doing, the companies you want to work for, and current industry trends.
Choose your skills based on:
- What your company needs,
- Your own likes and dislikes (especially for the long term game),
- Skills you already have,
- Trends in the industry,
- Available training and mentors,
- A PM you look up to as a role model,
- Or a combination of these factors.
The shape of your product will determine the skills you develop and the kind of PM you become. Although your shape is not set in stone, it’s essential to craft it and invest effort & time to master your desired skills.
If you're unsure where to start, you can take the free Principles assessment by Ray Dalio. It is not directly correlated with Product shape but it will help you understand yourself better:
One great Product shape example is a concept that was coined by Shreyas Doshi and its called “10-30-50”. Here is Shreya’s tweet about the concept:
Check other relevant posts:
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