A Year in Retrospective: My Journey as a Newsletter Creator and Product Manager
Follow me on how the year turned out for me and what's coming for this newsletter.
Inspired by Product Party, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know how this year went so far for me. Not only as a Product manager, but as someone started to write in Substack the whole year.
How I started 2023
This year brought up incredible surprises for me. I eagerly started a new adventure as a Product manager in a company that has variety of clients and projects. Yes, you will never get bored here.
The challenges I faced in this position were far from what I expected, but in the end they helped me to define and shape where I will be in the next years of my career.
I realized a dominate very well the operational activity as a PM, but I was lacking in strategically thinking and leadership. Setting up an entire plan on how to achieve the goals was easy for me, yet how to make your team understand the product vision and make them accountable of their decisions were huge steps that also helped me to thrive as a professional.
On the same side, I started to write in Substack. My motivation was to help anyone in the tech industry who wanted to understand more about Product Management. In my +10 years of career experience, I have crossed through many kind of situations, products, teams, techniques, etc. So why not use that knowledge to start writing something about?
Even if I could help only one person from the 8.1 Billion in the entire world, that would be it! That will be my way of giving back to other professionals like you an anyone interested in the beautiful but messy product world.
How the year turned up
When you knock on many doors, you can unlock unimaginable things.
If you followed my newsletter posts closely this year, you may have noticed that I faced particular situations and problems. Commonly, my writings were representing a challenge I went through the last couple of days at work. Or, something I needed to achieve in the following weeks that either I had to remember how to do it or learn it from scratch.
Because PMs are naturally motivated by curiosity and experimentation, that’s no exception for me:
I subscribed and learned from amazing newsletters (I constantly share them, if you want to know go check them here: ),
I met great product leaders,
I attended product conferences (virtually),
I consulted AI for specific product problems,
I took courses about tech, communication and leadership,
I joined a community of women leaders in technology (where I understood more about inclusion and diversity),
I mentored other PMs and Product designers,
I read product books but also novels,
I spoke at technology events
I was able to help and inspire other professional thrive in their career and personal lives (I sometimes still cannot believe this)
Many of these activities were an important platform to unlock an opportunity to collaborate somewhere else o meet great professionals.
And here’s a list of my top 7 articles:
How the year ended
Reflecting on the year, the journey has not just been about churning out posts. It's been about growing as a product manager but also as writer or content creator, enhancing my understanding of product management, and forming a deep connection with a diverse readership.
A key realization from this journey is the comments I received from my readers. Their feedback was a huge compass I needed to understand if I was sailing into the right direction or not. Fortunately for me, I met incredible people and learned a lot from their content too.
It was exciting to see how writing and product management have a lot in common. Both disciplines are interconnected and this helped me grasp and explain the complex world of product management, and at the same time, this understanding of product management has enriched my writing in return.
Apart from that, writing one article a week honed my writing skills and the way I expressed myself improved so much compared to when I started. I came with my own process and it not only became faster but also smoother. If you want to know more about how I write you should read this 👇
An Inside Look At My Publication Process: Detailed Walkthrough
There’s a good reason why all of us consume content, most of the times, is to seek for an answer to a problem we’re currently facing. When it comes to delivering valuable content, newsletters have proven to be one of the most effective methods. As a content creator, I have found the newsletter publication process to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only does it allow me to connect with my audience on a deeper level, but it also enables me to provide them with the answers or advice they are looking for.
Lessons learned
Even though Substack chat is great feature for other publications, it wasn’t in my case. The interaction was very low, so probably no worth maintain it next year.
Mentioning other publications is very easy and engaging, but I would love to try different ways of collaboration.
LinkedIn resulted in a great source of inspiration and to find collaborators. But as any other social media, it was hard to be very active. Definitely an area of opportunity there.
Publish on Medium.com, the old giant of online publications. It’s a platform for individuals & organizations and I started to share my ideas and perspectives to a wider audience. It turned out well, something I’ll keep doing next year.
What’s coming for 2024
Open other communication channels
More topics about leadership and strategy
Give it a try to cross-posts collaboration
Posts more constantly on LinkedIn, be more present
Keep posting on Medium
As a thank you, I’m giving a special offer valid until Jan 5th. I hope we can continue in this journey together and we learn from each other as well 🌟
Also, let’s connect on LinkedIn! 🫶
Wrapping up
This job of a PM isn't always easy, but it is one of the most rewarding and interesting roles I've ever had. Being a writer or content creator is nothing easy as well. Yet being able to share this journey with you all is one of the greatest thing I ever done.
As we almost say goodbye to 2023, I'd love to hear about the topics you’d like us to tackle next. And while we're at it, why don't you share a victory or lesson you've this year? It's always rewarding to learn from real-life experiences and stories.
Remember, we're in this together, from one product manager to another. Here's to another year of learning, growing and thriving! 🎉
Excited to see where you take us in 2024 Elena. I’d love to hear more about the success you’ve had with Medium. After gen AI came to the forefront, I noticed that a lot of great quality posts got buried by a lot of generic stuff on that platform so I moved off of using it. But if you’re seeing some success there, perhaps I should reconsider.
The year has been gorgeous for you, Elena. I read all your articles (and recommended some of them) and it has always been a pleasure. Always thoughful, always insightful. Keep going, I look forward to reading more from you!