疯狂PM养成记The Making of a Crazy PM

On the work front, today I was honestly still in a fog. Nearly half a month into the job, saying I still haven’t found my rhythm hardly sounds excusable. I need to shake this off fast. I’ve started doing GTD, though it seems… not to have kicked in yet.

In the evening I sat in on a training that Bin, the best PM at Kingsoft, gave for the new hires. I put together a little summary following his slides, along with a few reflections of my own, drawn from my ten-odd days of experience as a PM. Recording them here.

The Making of a Crazy PM

1. Know the project. Know the why behind it.

Whoever wants the result owns it; there are no bosses, only the pursuit of detail. The atmosphere at Kingsoft really is remarkably good, with no sense of hierarchy at all (when I first arrived I addressed Yuan with a polite “nin” and got a talking-to for it, haha

If you have a good idea you can say it directly, even over people’s heads (though I haven’t tried =.= I don’t even talk enough with Uncle Wu. The other issue is the pursuit of detail. As a PM, when a project is underway I genuinely want to get everything, down to the smallest thing, done as well as possible (at least what I consider the best, but when time is tight, judging how far to push the details leaves me confused. Bin says: in that situation, just ask the boss. Fair enough, the boss can give me the answer.

2. Only hard striving lets you rule an industry, and you are not the only one with a dream

This one really hit home. Only by giving 200% do you stand a chance of catching opponents stronger than you. There’s a line I love: at your current level of effort, you are nowhere near entitled to talk about talent.

3. Ask until the requirement is clear; learn what is expected. As a PM, keep reflecting on your shortcomings, keep improving, earn recognition. Teamwork and the hunger to learn are the keys to success.

I wrote this one a bit messily; there are really two separate questions in it. One is the method for completing a case; the other is what it takes, on the team side, to become a product manager. (Fine, even I can’t parse that sentence, I’ll think tonight about how to put it and revise. For a product manager, a profession whose very work is “thinking,” summarizing and sorting out your thoughts is absolutely essential. Logic is the kind of thing that only gets clearer the more you think it through. And the hunger to learn is the motive force behind all of the above.

4. 200% passion + ultra-intense learning + formidable execution + reflection and insight = one possibly qualified product manager

That’s not actually how Bin put it; I’ve paraphrased. Think about it carefully and this line carries a lot: motivation, path, and goal are all packed inside. Passion, learning, reflection and insight I understand, and I can start on them right away. As for execution, I still have some doubts. I know what execution means, but I don’t know how to strengthen it. I’ve tried before simply cranking up my shamelessness and doing things without fear of losing face, and it actually worked quite well. Now, if anything, I’ve tied my own hands. Looks like it’s time to think hard about which things can be thrown away.

5. Find your own wisdom in the data.

A short line, but the one I found most useful of all. I love data to an unusual degree. Put it this way: I think every data point is like a Chinese character. Look at one alone and it tells you nothing. String them together and they become a story, and the more you read, the more you can draw out of them. Data is a crucial thread for validating a product. One advantage of a fine platform like Kingsoft is its big, comprehensive data. Heh heh, I can proudly say I’m already ravenously putting it to good use.

6. Summarize and reflect; keep trialing and erring. Keep joining the fight; always seek out the chance to do the work.

What does this one mean? I think it comes down to the same thing as “what you learn on paper always feels shallow.” Only by constantly asking, constantly accumulating, constantly summarizing, making the knowledge your own, can you make progress. On a platform as big as Kingsoft there are plenty of chances for trial and error; the thing to do is trade ideas with the boss often, and build, build, build.

7. Communication. Effective communication is a vital link; the effective transfer of information matters enormously. Including requirements, prototypes, etc.

I haven’t yet gone over requirements or the like with the developers; I’ll come back to this one once I have real experience

8. Goal attainment = goal + path + resources + validation

No insights yet; I’ll add some once a thought arrives

9. An empty-cup mindset; take in ideas finer than your own

Am I an empty cup? Have I already formed a cup of my own? Am I a trash can? Have I learned how to judge? Honestly, I haven’t thought these prerequisites through yet. On the PM side maybe I have no view yet, but in daily life I often play the part of a cup spilling over: when someone has less schooling than I do, or earns less than I do, I tend to dismiss their assessment of me wholesale, even when I know some of their points land squarely. That’s no good. Fix it.

10. Push the limits; carry the dream through to done.

This line happens to be a motto of mine as well. I have tried it many times, pulled it off many times, and failed many times. I’ve tasted the sweetness it brings, and I’ve also known the regret of understanding it yet not acting on it. There’s a saying that puts it well: you understand all the principles, you just can’t do them. Losing weight, hunting for a job: I practiced this line in both. Keep practicing it. ------And that counts as one full pass through it all. Looking back, what’s written on the paper is mostly encouragement for myself. No slacking on reflection and sorting things out; now put the thinking into action.