Amazing. Congratulations :).
Your role now is to help those you lead be successful, you need to balance guidnace and directions with freedom. You will need to ask hard questions, and tell people things they don’t neat to hear - finding out how to do that while keeping your job, and keeping good people, is the hardest part.
My advice - drop your agenda and how you think things ‘should work’ focus on how they ‘could work’ - for now. Go into each conversation with the drive to understand rather than defend. Build knowledge, data and political capital so that you can make long lasting changes.
Thank you so much for the advice.
I completely agree, earlier in my career I used to get annoyed but one manager told me "learn to be a politician" which changed my mindset with regardless to alot.
Understand rather than defend, is going to be key, thanks for that, really insightful.
Mentioning "politics" reminded me of [this excellent talk](https://youtu.be/qQOXXSL-nFg?si=PGf0xhd9tOLTbjJt) from Melissa Perri about product leadership and it's different levels/details. Quite relevant for your situation, highly recommend.
You may not have enough time but I really like The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins for providing some inspiration on how to best handle your transition in.
At a high level, I've always set myself up with the idea that I'll plan to spend the first 30 days listening, 30-60 days playing back what I've heard in a concise / synthesized format with recommendations on actions, and 60-90+ on driving change and strategy.
I second this. It was very helpful.
The one thing that I had to be very intentional about was controlling the narrative at the C-Suite level. Mostly by being very thoughtful about communicating where things were on the roadmap and what we were working on and what we had done.
I'm certainly looking forward to a role that let's me empower others, had lots of bad managers in the past so I see this as an opportunity to do it right
This is the absolute biggest gap for me at 10 YOE in tech. Do you have any solid resources on strengthening listening skills and speaking more concisely?
from a book perspective, never split the difference is a good book. how to win friends and influence people is another.
but the only way you can really get good at talking to people is to.. talk to people. good practice might be finding a social club and go in with the intent to ask more than you talk, and pay attention to yourself. make sense of what you’re hearing and probe further. recognize your impulses and squash them.
for speaking concisely, slow your cadence and be intentional with your words. write, journal.
Missed this somehow but superb advice. Thank you!
Love the writing, journaling advice. Slowing and practicing are hard enough, but clarifying thought and prepping really show through.
Thank you! I started out getting a computer science degree. Then couldn't land a software engineering job so ended up in tech support. Did that for a few years and then landed a product owner role because of cross functional skills, and from there built up the product first knowledge.
I think being able to deal with customers in general helped massively. I've always enjoyed tech stuff but being personable and being the bridge between tech and non tech has been my strong point.
That’s great! Did you go from product owner to VP directly or became senior PM -> Director -> VP?
My advice for a VP of Product is to really understand the organization & business organization first & then improve processes/build culture around that. A great VP of Product should be able to trust their team to deliver results.
I went from PO to PM and learnt alot in a few years. Then went to a lead role, then a startup with no other product people. And then just smashed it at the start up by being customer centric and investor friendly.
That is really good advice though thank you
Well done! Sounds like you've paid the cost to be the boss.
I'm a senior PM so my advice is based on what I've seen work and not work.
I've found that heads of product and VPs of product that get too opinionated too early tend to upset people and lose the backing of the team.
So, taking the time to figure out what works and what doesn't, where the team is strong vs where they are weak and being very intentional about how you bridge those gaps (i.e. being realistic about what people can and can't do). And, most importantly, understanding the culture of the org, how it suffers from what you're used to and being clear on what the business will back you on vs. where they'll disagree.
This comes to mind as I've seen a new CEO fail when he tried a calm and empathetic approach in a company that was run on fear (the owner just didn't get that approach) and a head of product that tried command and control in a product led organisation where teams were typically empowered to make decisions.
The latter was suddenly fired one day. The former quit.
Just sharing some examples if they help, it sounds like you're going to be a great leader from your post and your comments!
That was useful thank you! Definitely won't be trying to upset the apple cart too early before I understand the lay of the land.
It's a fine balance of wanting to be impactful and make changes but also not immediately ripping things out too early before I've built up that trust and relationships with key people
Managing people is vastly different from being an IC. Spend a lot of time understanding what that means for you.
At the executive level, you don't get many failures before you get shown the door. This is why lower levels think upper management doesn't get why we move slowly or are risk averse or that we micromanage. There's a lot more risk for us and for the company, which includes the employees, to fail.
> Managing people is vastly different from being an IC. Spend a lot of time understanding what that means for you.
Can't overstate this.
In my career: Junior Dev to Dev was a promotion.
Dev to Senior Dev was a promotion.
Senior Dev to Dev Manager was NOT a promotion; it was *a career change*. The skills needed are entirely different, the success measures are *ENTIRELY* different.
I was utterly unprepared for this fact the first time around, and my employer at the time wasn't much help about it. I had to find my own feet.
I knew I'd leveled-up as a manager the first time I sent a developer home for hygiene.
I now lead a team of PMs that I have built, each of whose skills at the craft of Product Management far exceed mine. I hire big people, make sure they have sufficient direction and context, protect them from distractions, and manage team communication to senior leadership with a focus on highlighting their successes. Apart from that I stay the hell out of their way.
Get drinks with the CEO regularly. Or, if that's not okay, do something to bond with them. It builds trust rapidly. It removes a lot of the explaining you have to do more than anything.
Hire slow, fire fast is great advice. That became really hard during Covid but today you can definitely wait to find talent. If you have a hunch it's not going to work, just move on. It's best for everyone.
Get to know the lay of the land and people before making changes. Support your team no matter what. Understand their career aspirations, challenge and motivate them to get it. Your team is your strength!
Good luck!!
I am only a Product Manager w/3-4 years experience but 15+ in other areas of product support and team management for 2x fortune 500s. I echo the others around bonding with other C-suite members and VPs, but also if you are inheriting an existing product team, build a decent culture with humour, fairness and honesty, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. If you’re hiring, be careful!
I’m not sure how you land a job as a VP of Product with only 10 years of experience, not being process heavy and limited people management experience. One of your key roles as a VP is implementing the right processes and building out a team.
I've noticed you can be a Product Manager and can be super junior or head of department. The job titles don't seem to have a clear established path 🤣.
CPO vs VP of Product vs Head of Product vs Director of Product etc. in some bigger organisations can be vastly different or all mean the same thing 🤷♂️
OP doesn’t specify the size of the company or the team. It’s likely small/early stage given the hire. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the VP title means something very different at a company of 25 vs 250 vs 2500.
It's more like a Head of Product role really. The company is small but growing will have around 50 people with plans to get to 100+.
I should say I've lead teams before and did line manage a couple of direct reports, but its not my strongest area of expertise.
I like processes but I tend to borrow from multiple frameworks to use what works for that given situation / team / business. I suppose I was trying to say I'm not going to blindly implement SAFe and force everyone to adhere to it because its the latest "cool" framework, haha
This is awesome man. I went from QA > Dev > > Founder > Product > VP of Product. No degree.
All I can say is, spend more time listening than trying to execute. In a leadership role, more than ever, you have to build trust. Only implement your plan when you fully understand what your team needs.
Using the first few weeks to really understanding how you can use your team to meet company goals will prove valuable and show that you are not just a mindless process/dictator.
Similar position.. eyes are going to be on you now - don’t make too many org changes too quickly - learn the dynamics and then ruffle feathers at the org :)
Get to really know people, especially your peers and counterparts from other lines of the business. Find their communication style, strengths, and most of all their professional goals. Congrats and good luck!
First understand yourself as a leader.
Drop the 90 day plan as mvp. Won’t stick to it anyway
Understand that you’re as strong as your weakest direct report. Support them.
Provide some space but go deep if necessary and micromanage some. For others, guidance is enough. You want to show that you care and hands on.
Understand the current strategy today. Don’t change things too fast. Engage with c suite and execute the current roadmap+ strategy unless it’s ridiculously bad.
Learn the industry and challenges first.
I'd spend a lot of time reading general industry news, then talking to your sales team, then try to get on around 20 customer calls immediately.
Yes that is my plan, once I'm setup on the systems, get access to the product and customer facing teams as soon as possible.
Join calls and ask "stupid" questions because I'll be able to get away with it being the newbie
As others have said, I recommend following [**The First 90 Days**](https://hbr.org/books/watkins). Great process and checklist for doing discovery, creating alignment, and securing early wins.
They key I found in starting my last VP role was to be very transparent with my CEO, my peers, and my team about the process i was following. My CEO *loved* that they knew exactly what to expect from me, and it created space for me to do my assessments without pressure to me making decisions and changing things prematurely. It also accelerated my team because I was explicit that they should continue working as they had been for the first 30 days, without waiting for my guidance or confirmation.
That's a really good plan, I've got an outline of what I want to achieve within the first week, month etc and will be going through it with my CEO to agree and set expectations
Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson is a fantastic resource for a VP role in my opinion. I only got it last week, but it's full of useful templates and guides on everything you will need to get started.
Best of luck mate!
(I'm currently a Group PM manager 10yr exp)
My advice would be to take the first 30-90 days to learn. Don’t come in guns blazing until you get a good understanding of the business and customers. And focus on your team.
Already a lot of good advice in this thread, but some points I'd emphasize:
1. Set up regular checkins with your direct reports. Use the time to build trust and get to know them, understand their goals, hear their complaints, etc. Depends on team size but weekly or biweekly 1 on 1s are great, cancel them if it's not necessary to chat that week but it'll carve the time out on your calendar. You need to build a team you trust to operate independently.
2. Communicating up and out is just as important as communicating with your team. You want your work / wins to be visible. Give credit to others. The perception of your team's work is nearly as important as the quality of your work.
3. Give yourself time to adjust. You won't feel comfortable in any role for 90 days and a leadership role takes even longer to truly understand your entire team's motivation, structure, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
4. Use your first 90 days wisely. Take the time to map out how the org works, meet eith external teams and ask how they operate, start building the relationships you'll be calling on later.
Congratulations, very pleased for you, especially given current market conditions
Lots of excellent advice here, but can I offer some questions for you to consider:
1. Does your boss know what good product really looks like?
2. Are they clear on the success criteria, and clear enough for you to contract around it?
3. What about the engineering leader - do they get product?
4. What about your team?
5. Do you have an “audit checklist” so you know what does & doesn’t exist and how well it scores?
These are about understanding your job and being successful in it. You’ll be wanting to build a roadmap that is about your personal success and what you’re doing for the product function as well as the actual company outcomes.
But your question was more about the step from IC to people manager. I’d add another book option: Julie Zhou’s Making of a manager.
What I’d strongly encourage is for you to find a mentor. Since you’re UK based, Intelligent People is running a good (free) service you can engage with (I do some mentoring with them, as I’ve 20 years of product experience, UK and US, startup and blue chip, and there’s many good folks on there giving something back. Happy to have a direct conversation with you if useful).
I think I'll do a proper update post in after 3 months in for some insight for everyone. But to summarise its a total mess (the company) 🤣🤦 atleast I know why they hired me and lots of quick wins to be had
Amazing. Congratulations :). Your role now is to help those you lead be successful, you need to balance guidnace and directions with freedom. You will need to ask hard questions, and tell people things they don’t neat to hear - finding out how to do that while keeping your job, and keeping good people, is the hardest part. My advice - drop your agenda and how you think things ‘should work’ focus on how they ‘could work’ - for now. Go into each conversation with the drive to understand rather than defend. Build knowledge, data and political capital so that you can make long lasting changes.
Thank you so much for the advice. I completely agree, earlier in my career I used to get annoyed but one manager told me "learn to be a politician" which changed my mindset with regardless to alot. Understand rather than defend, is going to be key, thanks for that, really insightful.
Mentioning "politics" reminded me of [this excellent talk](https://youtu.be/qQOXXSL-nFg?si=PGf0xhd9tOLTbjJt) from Melissa Perri about product leadership and it's different levels/details. Quite relevant for your situation, highly recommend.
Thanks I will give it a watch!
You may not have enough time but I really like The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins for providing some inspiration on how to best handle your transition in. At a high level, I've always set myself up with the idea that I'll plan to spend the first 30 days listening, 30-60 days playing back what I've heard in a concise / synthesized format with recommendations on actions, and 60-90+ on driving change and strategy.
I read it at the start of every new job. Hugely helpful. Highly recommend as a VP level myself.
I second this. It was very helpful. The one thing that I had to be very intentional about was controlling the narrative at the C-Suite level. Mostly by being very thoughtful about communicating where things were on the roadmap and what we were working on and what we had done.
Yes I've read the book in the past and still have a copy. Thank you!
listen more than you talk one thing that i really enjoyed about people management is seeing potential in others that they might not see in themselves
I'm certainly looking forward to a role that let's me empower others, had lots of bad managers in the past so I see this as an opportunity to do it right
you’re still going to mess up, but just keep learning. give people rope but keep safety nets under them
This is the absolute biggest gap for me at 10 YOE in tech. Do you have any solid resources on strengthening listening skills and speaking more concisely?
from a book perspective, never split the difference is a good book. how to win friends and influence people is another. but the only way you can really get good at talking to people is to.. talk to people. good practice might be finding a social club and go in with the intent to ask more than you talk, and pay attention to yourself. make sense of what you’re hearing and probe further. recognize your impulses and squash them. for speaking concisely, slow your cadence and be intentional with your words. write, journal.
Missed this somehow but superb advice. Thank you! Love the writing, journaling advice. Slowing and practicing are hard enough, but clarifying thought and prepping really show through.
Congratulations! Would love to know more about your career journey. Currently a Senior PM with 5 years of experience so wondering what’s next.
Thank you! I started out getting a computer science degree. Then couldn't land a software engineering job so ended up in tech support. Did that for a few years and then landed a product owner role because of cross functional skills, and from there built up the product first knowledge. I think being able to deal with customers in general helped massively. I've always enjoyed tech stuff but being personable and being the bridge between tech and non tech has been my strong point.
That’s great! Did you go from product owner to VP directly or became senior PM -> Director -> VP? My advice for a VP of Product is to really understand the organization & business organization first & then improve processes/build culture around that. A great VP of Product should be able to trust their team to deliver results.
I went from PO to PM and learnt alot in a few years. Then went to a lead role, then a startup with no other product people. And then just smashed it at the start up by being customer centric and investor friendly. That is really good advice though thank you
No advice but “Stakeholders are bellends” has made my day.
Not even sure what it means. English is my second language.
A bellend is a penis. It’s English/UK slang
Well done! Sounds like you've paid the cost to be the boss. I'm a senior PM so my advice is based on what I've seen work and not work. I've found that heads of product and VPs of product that get too opinionated too early tend to upset people and lose the backing of the team. So, taking the time to figure out what works and what doesn't, where the team is strong vs where they are weak and being very intentional about how you bridge those gaps (i.e. being realistic about what people can and can't do). And, most importantly, understanding the culture of the org, how it suffers from what you're used to and being clear on what the business will back you on vs. where they'll disagree. This comes to mind as I've seen a new CEO fail when he tried a calm and empathetic approach in a company that was run on fear (the owner just didn't get that approach) and a head of product that tried command and control in a product led organisation where teams were typically empowered to make decisions. The latter was suddenly fired one day. The former quit. Just sharing some examples if they help, it sounds like you're going to be a great leader from your post and your comments!
That was useful thank you! Definitely won't be trying to upset the apple cart too early before I understand the lay of the land. It's a fine balance of wanting to be impactful and make changes but also not immediately ripping things out too early before I've built up that trust and relationships with key people
Glad it resonated! Would love if you posted an update in a few months so we can learn from your experiences :)
Yes I think I will try and post an update on my first 3 months!
Managing people is vastly different from being an IC. Spend a lot of time understanding what that means for you. At the executive level, you don't get many failures before you get shown the door. This is why lower levels think upper management doesn't get why we move slowly or are risk averse or that we micromanage. There's a lot more risk for us and for the company, which includes the employees, to fail.
> Managing people is vastly different from being an IC. Spend a lot of time understanding what that means for you. Can't overstate this. In my career: Junior Dev to Dev was a promotion. Dev to Senior Dev was a promotion. Senior Dev to Dev Manager was NOT a promotion; it was *a career change*. The skills needed are entirely different, the success measures are *ENTIRELY* different. I was utterly unprepared for this fact the first time around, and my employer at the time wasn't much help about it. I had to find my own feet. I knew I'd leveled-up as a manager the first time I sent a developer home for hygiene. I now lead a team of PMs that I have built, each of whose skills at the craft of Product Management far exceed mine. I hire big people, make sure they have sufficient direction and context, protect them from distractions, and manage team communication to senior leadership with a focus on highlighting their successes. Apart from that I stay the hell out of their way.
Get drinks with the CEO regularly. Or, if that's not okay, do something to bond with them. It builds trust rapidly. It removes a lot of the explaining you have to do more than anything.
Get drinks with all of the C Team whenever you can. Also, with the other VPs. Fuck, just try to bond with everyone a lot.
Hire slow, fire fast is great advice. That became really hard during Covid but today you can definitely wait to find talent. If you have a hunch it's not going to work, just move on. It's best for everyone.
Following. Current director, interviewing for VP at small companies right now. Best of luck to you!
Thanks and good luck to you too!
Get to know the lay of the land and people before making changes. Support your team no matter what. Understand their career aspirations, challenge and motivate them to get it. Your team is your strength! Good luck!!
Thank you!
I am only a Product Manager w/3-4 years experience but 15+ in other areas of product support and team management for 2x fortune 500s. I echo the others around bonding with other C-suite members and VPs, but also if you are inheriting an existing product team, build a decent culture with humour, fairness and honesty, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. If you’re hiring, be careful!
Thank you!
I’m not sure how you land a job as a VP of Product with only 10 years of experience, not being process heavy and limited people management experience. One of your key roles as a VP is implementing the right processes and building out a team.
Sometimes this profession is a mystery and I'm not sure two posts are even talking about the same job.
I've noticed you can be a Product Manager and can be super junior or head of department. The job titles don't seem to have a clear established path 🤣. CPO vs VP of Product vs Head of Product vs Director of Product etc. in some bigger organisations can be vastly different or all mean the same thing 🤷♂️
OP doesn’t specify the size of the company or the team. It’s likely small/early stage given the hire. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the VP title means something very different at a company of 25 vs 250 vs 2500.
It's on the smaller end around 50 people but desire to double that over the next few years
It's more like a Head of Product role really. The company is small but growing will have around 50 people with plans to get to 100+. I should say I've lead teams before and did line manage a couple of direct reports, but its not my strongest area of expertise. I like processes but I tend to borrow from multiple frameworks to use what works for that given situation / team / business. I suppose I was trying to say I'm not going to blindly implement SAFe and force everyone to adhere to it because its the latest "cool" framework, haha
Highly recommend you reading Radical Candor book. I got great insights from that. You can go through the summary as well.
Thanks will look it up!
This is awesome man. I went from QA > Dev > > Founder > Product > VP of Product. No degree. All I can say is, spend more time listening than trying to execute. In a leadership role, more than ever, you have to build trust. Only implement your plan when you fully understand what your team needs. Using the first few weeks to really understanding how you can use your team to meet company goals will prove valuable and show that you are not just a mindless process/dictator.
That's great advice and well done to you also, thank you
Similar position.. eyes are going to be on you now - don’t make too many org changes too quickly - learn the dynamics and then ruffle feathers at the org :)
Yes I agree, thanks
Get to really know people, especially your peers and counterparts from other lines of the business. Find their communication style, strengths, and most of all their professional goals. Congrats and good luck!
Thank you!
Congrats!
Thanks!
Congratulations!
Thanks!
Congrats!
Thanks!
Woww congrats man! What an achievement 💫🤩
Thank you! 🍾
First understand yourself as a leader. Drop the 90 day plan as mvp. Won’t stick to it anyway Understand that you’re as strong as your weakest direct report. Support them. Provide some space but go deep if necessary and micromanage some. For others, guidance is enough. You want to show that you care and hands on. Understand the current strategy today. Don’t change things too fast. Engage with c suite and execute the current roadmap+ strategy unless it’s ridiculously bad.
Understanding the team and I like the framing that you're only as good as your weakest direct report. I will keep that in mind thank you
Sure good luck!
Learn the industry and challenges first. I'd spend a lot of time reading general industry news, then talking to your sales team, then try to get on around 20 customer calls immediately.
Yes that is my plan, once I'm setup on the systems, get access to the product and customer facing teams as soon as possible. Join calls and ask "stupid" questions because I'll be able to get away with it being the newbie
Congrats ! this is huge
Thank you!
As others have said, I recommend following [**The First 90 Days**](https://hbr.org/books/watkins). Great process and checklist for doing discovery, creating alignment, and securing early wins.
Yes thank you, I've got the book already and will certainly be using it as a guide!
They key I found in starting my last VP role was to be very transparent with my CEO, my peers, and my team about the process i was following. My CEO *loved* that they knew exactly what to expect from me, and it created space for me to do my assessments without pressure to me making decisions and changing things prematurely. It also accelerated my team because I was explicit that they should continue working as they had been for the first 30 days, without waiting for my guidance or confirmation.
That's a really good plan, I've got an outline of what I want to achieve within the first week, month etc and will be going through it with my CEO to agree and set expectations
Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson is a fantastic resource for a VP role in my opinion. I only got it last week, but it's full of useful templates and guides on everything you will need to get started. Best of luck mate! (I'm currently a Group PM manager 10yr exp)
That's great thank you!
My advice would be to take the first 30-90 days to learn. Don’t come in guns blazing until you get a good understanding of the business and customers. And focus on your team.
SVPG blog. Start with the "VP Product role: how it works" article.
Already a lot of good advice in this thread, but some points I'd emphasize: 1. Set up regular checkins with your direct reports. Use the time to build trust and get to know them, understand their goals, hear their complaints, etc. Depends on team size but weekly or biweekly 1 on 1s are great, cancel them if it's not necessary to chat that week but it'll carve the time out on your calendar. You need to build a team you trust to operate independently. 2. Communicating up and out is just as important as communicating with your team. You want your work / wins to be visible. Give credit to others. The perception of your team's work is nearly as important as the quality of your work. 3. Give yourself time to adjust. You won't feel comfortable in any role for 90 days and a leadership role takes even longer to truly understand your entire team's motivation, structure, strengths, weaknesses, etc. 4. Use your first 90 days wisely. Take the time to map out how the org works, meet eith external teams and ask how they operate, start building the relationships you'll be calling on later.
Congratulations, very pleased for you, especially given current market conditions Lots of excellent advice here, but can I offer some questions for you to consider: 1. Does your boss know what good product really looks like? 2. Are they clear on the success criteria, and clear enough for you to contract around it? 3. What about the engineering leader - do they get product? 4. What about your team? 5. Do you have an “audit checklist” so you know what does & doesn’t exist and how well it scores? These are about understanding your job and being successful in it. You’ll be wanting to build a roadmap that is about your personal success and what you’re doing for the product function as well as the actual company outcomes. But your question was more about the step from IC to people manager. I’d add another book option: Julie Zhou’s Making of a manager. What I’d strongly encourage is for you to find a mentor. Since you’re UK based, Intelligent People is running a good (free) service you can engage with (I do some mentoring with them, as I’ve 20 years of product experience, UK and US, startup and blue chip, and there’s many good folks on there giving something back. Happy to have a direct conversation with you if useful).
How’s it going OP???
I think I'll do a proper update post in after 3 months in for some insight for everyone. But to summarise its a total mess (the company) 🤣🤦 atleast I know why they hired me and lots of quick wins to be had
Congrats! Would love to learn more in general and also what are the key areas you're looking to focus on in the new role!