How would TPMs start working with a new product manager?
Let's assume you've been assigned to a new team in the company and you'll be working with a new product manager. How would you start working with them, and what processes would you set in place?
Start by listening to the product manager. What questions should you ask?
Now, try to understand the team's culture - how would you go about doing this?
Typically, TPMs handle the "how" while product managers handle the "why." How would you communicate this?
Have you used the product itself? How would you go about using it?
If you've suggested making changes, have you thought about asking questions first? What questions would you ask?
In this answer, we'll walk through some of our principles for how we'd start working with a new product manager. While there's no one right answer, we hope to cover a series of factors relevant for starting with a new product manager.
Overall, our principles for working with a new team are to listen and learn. We're new to this team which means we have a lot to learn - jumping in quickly with ideas or input might be misguided and a bit naive. Another principle going into this process will be emphasizing our role of TPM as solving for the "how" and for product managers solving for the "why" and a bit of the "what."
Listen to PM
First, we'd set up a meeting with the product manager on the project. Here's a list of questions to ask the product manager:
- What should I know about the product before getting started?
- What are some of the major technical constraints of the product?
- What are some of the main goals this quarter? What are some of the 5-10 year plans for this product?
- What are some challenges this product team has had in the past?
- I typically can help with X, Y , Z - does that sound right to you?
- Who else should I talk to on the team?
- How can I help you and the team in general?
We'd want to gather as much information as we can to learn about the team, the product, and what the product manager prefers in terms of how to best work together. Each product manager, and each product team, operates differently. There's no one right answer here, but listening and making sure the product manager feels heard goes a long way toward a positive working relationship.
Listen to Team
Now that we've talked to the product manager, we should also talk to the rest of the team and understand some of the same questions as above. We'll lean into listening, empathizing, and asking where extra attention and support is valuable. This includes the engineering team (here in particular we will focus on asking questions about how our engineering architecture is built), engineering management, product leadership, design teams, and any other relevant cross-functional teams. Product managers and TPMs are at the intersection of many different cross-functional departments, which is why it's critical to get to know and understand where we fit in across the whole team.
One particularly important factor in this step is understanding the company culture around TPM-ing. How do TPMs typically get involved with teams? What does TPM leadership think about the division between product and program management? Understanding the overall company culture can guide us in our duties and responsibilities.
Use the Product
While listening to the entire team and product manager, we'll of course be taking notes and synthesizing information. In addition to talking to the team, we should also begin actively using and understanding the product that we're developing. Part of being an effective team member is knowing our product extremely well, both from a user and the engineer's mindset. If necessary, we'll also ensure to set up our machine to emulate the different user states for a user of our product (e.g. a paying user vs. a non-paying user) so we can get our machine set up to debug issues and discuss product decisions.
While using the product, we'll also write down feedback and ideas on how to improve it - many of these ideas may be naive or silly, but a fresh set of eyes will always help a product manager.
Set up early syncs
After talking to the team and using the product, we'll want to set up regular meetings (or "syncs") with key stakeholders, including the product manager. We'll work with the product manager to define what cadence of meetings makes sense and if any other product managers in the company are worth setting up regular meetings with.
Run the Program
Most teams already have some type of process that already is working for them in some capacity. In our first week with the new team, we'll continue to run the program and understand how it's worked thus far while being thoughtful about what the pros and cons are of the team's dynamics. Doing this will help us get up to speed on the existing team without rocking the boat too much - something we'll focus on doing later as we ramp up to the team and develop more thoughtful opinions about restructuring our team.
Share Duties
Lastly, while we do believe in separating duties from product managers as the "how" vs the "why," we recognize that there will be a lot of overlap in our duties too. In our regular syncs with the product manager, we may share ideas and thoughts about the product vision, while also appreciating and soliciting ideas on how to better manage the process and structure of the team.