How to onboard a new PM or your own manager

A new product manager is joining my team in a few weeks. I created an onboarding document to help frame the work, people, and history the new PM would encounter during their first 30, 60, and 90 days. To ensure I hit all the key topics, I asked individuals across the organization to do a review - anchoring on people the new PM would be working with directly. Around the same time a product management mentee I advise through the First Round Fast Track program asked how to best “onboard” their new manager. The advice I provided was similar to the approach I took for onboarding my new PM.

While there are numerous articles on how to tackle your own 30, 60, 90 days at a new organization, this post will help you onboard a new team member or your own boss. In each scenario consider the type of product team you would like to create or be part of. For example, work does not have to be competitive (as I shared in my prior newsletter). By highlighting the best in others and calling upon collective strengths, you enable the new hire to begin by operating from a place of trust. Conversations and connections will be more impactful and ultimately the product team will be stronger.

My focus for this newsletter is on product people. Nothing is more important than the first 30 - 60 - 90 days. This is the time the new hire will learn how the company and individuals communicates, how they like to work together, and whether there are any quick wins they could help accomplish to build confidence and credibility early on.

For a new manager, the first 90 days is the time to learn team rituals, gain clarity on the high priority goals for the next 3 months, and establish a connection with the product team. It’s also an opportunity to listen in order to grasp where each individual is at in their career, what are the top challenges the team is facing, and how their are perceived by the organization. The insight comes together to define the team culture one is joining and the best way to introduce any necessary changes.

Start the onboarding document by welcoming the new hire and setting the foundation for the information they’re about to consume. Make sure they have an onboarding buddy to check in with along the way. If you’re manager is the new hire, volunteer to be their buddy. If the new person is joining your team, make sure they have a 1:1 with you on their first or second day, depending on any onboarding training the company requires.

First 30 Days

The first 30 days are critical. It’s during this time the new hire will start forming their impression of the organization they just joined and of you as well. It’s also quite ironic that most of what is learned during the first 30 days is likely to be forgotten. The feelings and connections (the “people”) will remain. It’s the process and even the product nuances which will quickly be pushed out by new learnings during the subsequent 60 and 90 days. Acknowledge this situation instead of pretending it won’t happen.

• Goals:

  • Complete any required onboarding, including training. 

  • Get a high level understanding of Product @ <insert company name>

  • Meet with individuals noted below. 

    • If individuals are not available, make sure the meet & greet meeting is scheduled.

  • Start to gain insight into the product area you will be overseeing

• Housekeeping

  • Share a quick bio (your experience, education background and any fun fact you’d like to share) with your manager for him/her to introduce you to the team

  • Finish New Hire Orientation tasks 

  • Review the Internal Wiki to learn more about company dates (pay days, holidays, on site weeks) and other points touched upon in your offer letter.

  • Sign up for internal training that covers company-wide policies and systems. 

• Suggested approach for meet & greets:

  • Take good notes!  You’ll want to refer back to them in the future.

  • Find out

    • What is the person working on?

    • What is working well? What is the person most excited about?

    • What are some tricky points to keep in mind when exploring point solutions? What are opportunities for improvement? 

  • Identify what topics you want to learn more about during month two (60 days)

  • Ask to shadow product meetings to get a sense of how Product operates.

• Getting to know other product team members

  • <Indicate which meetings the new hire should attend. Provide a bit of context and share the frequency.>

• A few tips from others who recently joined the organization

  • <Call out ways of working that are unique or specific to the Product team and the organization.>

  • <Identify any partners the new should be aware of as the individual(s) hold a certain role or influence at the organization>

  • <Share the best way to meet with individuals - and ensure the new hire is not be shy about reaching out to you on how best to connect with people>.

First 60 Days

• Goals: 

  • Understand the company Strategy, including Mission, Vision, context for identifying opportunities, and Goals (include links to relevant assets)

  • Dive into the product development lifecycle and ask yourself:

    • How do the stages differ from what you’ve seen at other companies? 

    • Why do you think those differences exist?

    • Are there adjustments to the product development lifecycle you recommend based on your experience? 

• Suggested approach:

  • Spend more time with your cross-functional colleagues, including:

    • Data Science

    • Design including research

    • Engineering

  • Start leading Product activities per the product development lifecycle, including iterating upon the initial Vision, Roadmap and Goals (see Strategy Stack in the prior newsletter)

• Getting to know other team members

  • Schedule recurring meetings with individuals critical to your area of exploration

  • Continue to meet with individuals identified below as well as those recommended from initial contacts

First 90 Days

• Goals: 

  • Autonomously navigate your job and apply what you’ve learned in your first 90 days. 

  • Revisit areas where the Product team has perceived gaps and ways you can help to fill those gaps based on your background + experience.

• Suggested Approach

  •  Look over materials referenced during your first 30 and 60 days and identify areas where you now have questions and/or more insight would be beneficial.

  • Lead Product activities in your area

  • Determine the one or two immediate opportunities to focus on for your product area (or team)

• Getting to know other team members

  • Present facets of your experience to the Product team during an Hour of Learning (see prior newsletter)

  • Share the status of your product during a company wide meeting and seek feedback from participants

  • Continue diving in!

Getting to know <the company>

Product Team 

<List out critical projects and include a one sentence description of each. Whenever possible, link to supporting resources.>

Org Charts: 

• Available in <insert location>

• <Define how the product team is structured>

• <Share how cross-functional teams are allocated>

People to Meet

Leaders and Managers

• Engineering names + area(s) of focus

• Data science names + area(s) of focus

• Design (including product design, research) names + area(s) of focus

• Other product team leaders + area(s) of focus

• Trust / legal / security names

Strategic partners

• <contacts at strategic partners>

Your team

• Product Managers + area(s) of focus

• Product Marketing + area(s) of focus

• Product Operations + area(s) of focus

• Customer Success + area(s) of focus

Other contacts

• <central or other cross functional stakeholders>

Communication

Applications 

• Figma - We use Figma and Figjam to design our products and for collaborative work. 

• Google Suite - Mostly focuses on docs, sheets, and slides

• Jira - For collaboration with Engineering

• Confluence - Wiki (knowledge base) for day-to-day and project guidance

• Looker - Analytics dashboards  

• Slack - day to day communication, messages will vanish after a set period of time

• Workday - View your information, org charts, time off, and goals

Product Development Lifecycle

• <Provide links to the process and supporting stages>

• <Include a list of products according to their lifecycle stage>

Key Project Links

Documents

• Organization strategy

• Market Research

• Product governance

• Go to Market approach

• Terminology

• Product Infrastructure or Product Platform

• <Include documents which are deprecated now and more of a reference.>

• <Include documents which are not updated but a good reference>

Historical Context 

• <Link to documents which define the company’s purpose. The information may not be current, yet a company’s history typically is very informative of its future.>

• <Link to documents which explain the impact the company is seeking to have, e.g. what is success.>

• <Link to documents which explain the “why” behind your product area.>

• <Link to other operational documents, for example Roles & Responsibilities, accessibility and reviews a product must complete to go to market.>

If you’re looking for resources for your first 90 days, here are a few I’ve saved.

What's your focus during your first 90 days as Head of Product?

A Growth Practitioner’s First 90-day Plan

Your First 90 Day Startup Growth Plan

I’ve also kept links to the following templates.

Growth Role: The First 90 Day Plan

Growth Role: The Learning Plan

How to write the perfect 90-day plan

90 Day Plan Template

I was recently featured on Aakash Mehta’s podcast. Aakash is the product lead at a B2B dev tools startup, a Harvard MBA grad, an angel investor, and a PM coach. In his podcast, he speaks with individuals about ways to level up product management skills and careers.

Anyone Can be a Leader Like Ted Lasso | Diana Stepner (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, UC-Berkeley)

I died my hair purple about six weeks ago. In the podcast you’ll see it’s a bit of a mood ring as it was transitioning from purple to blue and ultimately green. Definitely an interesting experience to not recognize my own self.

Enjoy!