How Joel Became Confident & Effective In His New Role

How to bridge the gap to doing product properly?

I was in my first product role, but quickly realised:

“This isn’t how product should be done.”

Decisions were top-down, our process was chaotic and nobody really knew what to do about this thing called “product”.

I had done enough reading and watched enough YouTube talks to be aware that this was a problem.

But I wasn’t sure how I could bridge that gap - I was only in my first year in product & lacked a lot of experience!

So I decided to do something about it.

Yet, within my company, there was a lack of guidance. And just a general focus on the wrong kind of stuff.

When I looked outside the company for support, I was inundated with endless resources and articles, but all of it was hard to relate to my actual role.

I kept thinking, “this all sounds great, but how do I practice that in my role?”

This started to really knock my confidence & motivation.

Taking Decisive Action

It was clear I would have to do something decisive to change this.

I needed to step out of that “revolving hamster wheel”.

And one thing was clear:

Unless you’re learning rapidly on the job, no article or theoretical course will be enough.

That’s where Prod MBA] was so different. It’s not “just another course”. Far from it.

As well as providing excellent theory around product management, the practical, hands-on aspect of the programme really stood out.

You ACTUALLY have to apply it during Prod MBA, by developing a product from scratch, by yourself, through to a working, validated prototype.

You have to commit - and are held accountable - so you actually take decisive action to skill up.

The Playbook Got Me My Ideal Job

I started interviewing for a new role during the bootcamp and I was using everything I had learnt to sell myself effectively.

I was confident, I had a clear process, I learnt how to control the interview - and came out with a role that felt like a perfect fit for me.

I’ve felt really confident stepping into that new role. Prod MBA and everything I learnt reaffirmed that I could do it. That I could take that next step in my career.

Not just for taking a product from zero to one in a unique way, but for any product scenario I find myself in.

Confident & Ready To Deliver Results

I’ve been lucky to transition into a truly product-led organisation. I don’t think I would have been able to do that before this bootcamp.

Beyond that, I’m extremely confident that I can deliver in this role.

I’m armed with a bank of frameworks, tools and Miro boards to apply in my new environment. This gives me huge confidence knowing that I have an adaptable process for any situation.

From product discovery and lean validation, to constantly re-evaluating an existing product using the PMF Engine, I feel ready and able to ask the right questions - and help my team find the right answers.

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Joel has 2 years experience in product management & successfully moved to a product-led role after Prod MBA

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