1 Big Mistake I Made When I Was First Getting Started In Product Management

Like most beginners, I made a lot of mistakes when I first started working in Product Management

But this was the biggest one, by far:

Failing to Prioritize Effectively

When you first get started in Product Management, you’re ready to conquer the world and build all the things.

You quickly realize, though, that building all of the things can lead you to build none of the things.

Saying yes to every single request that slides across your inbox or slack channel can lead to a scattered Frankenstein of features that don’t make any sense together.

There’s power in saying no and staying focused on the handful of things that will drive value.

An exercise I like to do to determine if something is worth building:

The Effort Impact Matrix.

The effort impact matrix is pretty straightforward. Start by drawing vertical and horizontal lines that connect at the bottom left of the diagram.

Then map the expected effort to implement a feature on the horizontal axis. Then map the impact of the feature on the vertical axis.

Finally, divide the area within the two lines into four quadrants.

• Top Left: Low Effort / High Impact (The Sweet Spot)
• Top Right: High Effort / High Impact (The Long Game)
• Bottom Left: Low Effort / Low Impact (The Leftovers)
• Bottom Right: High Effort / Low Impact (The Danger Zone)

Once your features are laid out on your matrix, it’s time to make a game plan and start your road mapping process.

• Start with The Sweet Spot
• Plan for The Long Game
• Stay away from The Danger Zone
• Maybe grab a Leftover or two along the way.

Taking the time to do this exercise on the front end could end up saving you a ton of time and wasted effort.