⤴️ EVO8: 42 Ideas to Level Up as a Product Professional
And help others around you to level up.
Fellow Product developers,
This new edition of the Product Evolution newsletters aims to help you get inspired about developing and growing professionally in your Product Career.
Also, you can apply these ideas for helping or encouraging others around you to develop and grow.
Most ideas don’t require a dedicated financial budget and can be combined as learning puzzle pieces.
Keep on evolving,
Bülent
Learning by doing (practice)
Shadowing someone more experienced like a Sr. Product Manager or working in adjacent roles like UX Design, Product Marketing, Engineering Management, Sales, Customer Support etc.
Exchange or rotation programs in other teams, like other Product teams or adjacent teams like UX, Marketing etc.
Product bootcamps - internal or external
Product hackathons - internal or external
Out of office backup for a fellow Product Manager in your company or even people from adjacent roles
“A day as a” programs - work in the shoes of other roles for a day, like more experienced Product roles or adjacent roles
Simulations of events like dealing with service outage, a new product launch, an End-of-Life transition, and other probable events during a career in Product
Side projects at work and during your personal time, like developing and managing various types of (simpler) products
Client demos or presales activities or other instances where you need to present your product and deal with questions about it in realtime
Cross-functional initiatives or strategic programs where you can contribute with your Product experience and expertize and learn by doing activities in other areas as well
Reviews with/from other Product professionals or other types of stakeholders
Delegation (both as delegator and as delegate) - delegate parts of your Product work to others or do work that is delegated to you by others
Learning from/with others (social learning)
Hosting small group discussions on a Product-related topic - within the company or within the extended Product community
Participating to small group discussions on a Product-related topic
Giving feedback & feedforward to colleagues from your Product team or to other stakeholders
Receiving feedback & feedforward
Giving team presentations or organizing debates on Product-related issues
Attending team presentations or debates
Facilitating working sessions for progressing with the development of your product
Participating in facilitated working sessions
Mentoring others on Product-related topics that you have experience and expertize on
Being mentored
Coaching others to help them get clarity and commitment going forward
Being coached by others
Training others on specific Product-related topics
Being trained by others
Advising others on complex Product-related challenges
Being advised by others
Consulting others on clear Product-related challenges
Being consulted by others
Hosting workshops on Product-related topics
Participating to workshops
Organizing Product communities of practice - internal or external
Participating in Product communities of practice
Learning by yourself (study)
Product books
Product articles
Product tutorials
E-learning courses about Product topics
Youtube edutainment - Product-related channels
Product-related one-pagers that you synthesize
Product-related micro-learning
Product-related podcasts
Even though the internet is flooded with Product resources related mainly to the ‘learning by yourself’ category, bear in mind that most professional growth happens through learning by doing and through learning realtime from or with others.
Remember to seek more opportunities and make place for this kind of learning experiences in your professional life, besides the business as usual.
Bülent Duagi is a Sr. Strategic adviser for Tech companies and a lifelong learner. He works at the intersection of Strategy, Foresight, Leadership, Org Design, Product and Capability Development. Learn more by exploring his professional one pager or connect on LinkedIn.