How Isaac Gontovnik got into Product Management

Isaac Gontovnik

Product Manager

First product job

🐣 Joined a company as a PM in 2018

Before becoming a PM

💼 Business Consultant

💻 2 years of exp. in tech companies

🎓 Business Management and Administration

The Story

How did you land your first job as a product manager?

I’m a business administration professional formerly involved in investment banking and consulting. However, for quite some time I’ve been working on product management. So… how the heck did I get into product management!??

The first time I got into it I didn’t even realize it. How did I even notice it?… At that time, I was building a home services app which finally worked out -for a while- but the creation process sucked. Now I can tell exactly why and with the things I’ve learned I would definitely have done many things differently.

Like me, I bet most current Product Managers started applying –rightly or wrongly– product management foundations without even knowing it. Fortunately, after I was building that app I started reading and studying about the topic. If you want to get familiar with this world, within all of the lectures and courses I took, I highly recommend the “Become a Product Manager” course by Cole Mercer and Evan Kimbrell from Udemy. Also, you may want to follow some authors as Marty Cagan and Melissa Perri.

I got my first official job as a Product Manager some years ago. I was contacted then through LinkedIn and I also had to move to another country when I took that decision. Now, I’ve worked with several products teams made up of +30 uxers (designers, researchers and contents) and developers in several industries.

The challenge

What was the biggest challenge in your first year as a PM?

I believe it is people management and finding a fittable process for the team. I’d like to share with you what I like to call a shortcut to best product leadership practices. These are things I wish I knew before I started. Of course, each one of you will walk your own way, but I can say the following practices will make that way easier.

As a Product Manager I’ve been constantly exposed to products themselves in different platforms and for different customers. Interacting daily with multiple teams and stakeholders and learning best practices as well as switching to them at reasonable paces makes me understand that the key lies in continuously trying new processes. This requires taking the best of different methodologies to lead digital products and teams, and evaluate how they fit in with the people, the customers and the businesses. I believe that the following will help you get better.

Just to be clear, there isn’t a typical or ideal process. This happens because there’s no perfect process, methodology or framework to apply within a team as each one is unique. I have even seen differences within various teams inside the same company despite having a global structure and defined ideology. Accordingly, you’ll certainly have to adjust to the team whatever you choose your way is. Therefore, stop chasing for the “winning” method. Let’s get started:

1. Don’t dare to start work without first defining your product vision, strategy and goals

This I would suggest is the one practice that should be mandatory when working on any team and product. It is important to understand where to go and how to stay aligned with the customers and business needs. Obtain data from your customers and the market to generate insights in order to select one or two at the end to define your strategy. Try not changing it so often. The vision, strategy and goals of your product must be for the long term. Still, keep an eye on the market and overall environment as you can find new and better opportunities, or in the worst case the need to adjust to a new situation.

Don’t forget! The product strategy has to make sense for the company and your team. Therefore, it is important to always make it transparent and clear to them.

2. The team, the everything

Make the team your fort. Build strong relationships and choose the best way to do it. It’s important to have a place where every member feels confident and motivated. Along my path as a Product Manager I’ve gone through several ups and downs. There are tiny details that helped in the solidification of the team. For instance, feel comfortable delegating responsibilities and specifically let those that are specializing in certain areas come up with their proposals.

Also, when introducing an initiative, be clear about what is expected and the potential impacts. In that way you empower and motivate the others. Create adequate spaces to gather the team, find the perfect frequency for those meetings and use the right tools to organize the plans. Remember that everything must be adapted to the team’s methodology or size. For example, I’ve used anything from Excel to Trello and Jira depending on the team and how detailed we need to be.

Try to enhance the communication among the members so everyone understands the resources limitations and can ideate without sparing any effort. This will reduce the need of reiterating processes and communications. Practicing this will also help to keep the work going and remove blockers at an early stage.

To add, start communicating and thinking as a “We”. Just like that, you will notice how the members start to get empowered and decisions become more powerful. When there’s a win, then everyone gets the credit. On that note, if there’s a mistake there is also unity in taking the blame. Another habit is switching to suggestive language. It will help you to develop stronger problem solving skills and encourage interactions between peers. As we see, what we communicate and the way in which we do so is crucial when managing a team. At the end, take the time to review and evaluate the results of the processes to keep improving in the future.

3. Trust, but get immersed in processes

You’re not going to be an expert in everything that the rest of the team members do nor, is it necessary to become one. As a matter of fact, no one expects that from a Product Manager. Yet, it’s important to get immersed in the processes as much as possible, in order to argue, think of alternatives and make decisions.

However, it is crucial to trust your peers, their knowledge and backgrounds. Nevertheless, support your arguments with data, awareness and experiences, but above all be clear in what is expected.

4. Handling too much information

Along the way, as a Product Manager you should be turning into the point of reference for the product and as such, the amount of messages and communications that you receive could be terrifying. Thus, you better start mastering the skill of identifying what to take on yourself and what to delegate. In certain circumstances, obstacles can vanish just by connecting the right stakeholders or scheduling a short call instead of creating a long email chain.

Likewise, you must strive to save time for you and anyone on the team. When it comes to scheduling meetings, prepare diligently for them and assure the others have a description about the purpose of the meetings and what you’d like them to take from them. It’s important to identify who to invite and be mentally prepared to pivot as needed. Adapt to the situation and always manage the time. Make sure to define the next steps and responsibilities.

5. When working in parallel projects

If something is guaranteed to come up as a Product Manager it’s the need of sorting a diverse set of tasks into an appropriate order of relevance. Decide what to do next base on an analysis of the expected value and taking into consideration costs or efforts, mostly translated in terms of time and money. Again, no model is perfect or fits in every case. For this reason, always take into account how crucial a project is and in the context you are stepping into. On occasions, it’s ok to take decisions founded in intuition instead of just quantitative data.

6. Don’t air your dirty laundry in public

While managing a product we might not always have a win. Still, keep practicing the skill of looking at the bright side of things and communicating them to the team. Also, as the leader, make sure to take public responsibility when things don’t work out as planned. Sometimes things may work differently than expected. Make an effort to keep things “at home” and don’t forget to celebrate small wins, too. It becomes meaningful to highlight the achievements, and learn from what and how things happened in order to straighten things out in the following challenge.

To end up, keep in mind that any process must fit in what the team demands. As time passes, you will become familiar with many tools. Some of them you may maintain and others simply discard. Remember not to chase after one unique process, but instead focus on continually searching for alternatives that can bring you and your team closer to your happy place.

Connect with Isaac Gontovnik on Linkedin

How Isaac Gontovnik Got Into Product Management

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