Survival Guide: Arriving to a new Product Team

Get to know all the roles and responsibilities and build relationships in your team in order to succeed at the onboarding.

As you embark upon a new journey with a product team, it’s important to be prepared to make a smooth transition. Whether you are joining a new company or switching roles, introducing yourself to a new team in the right way can help you build relationships that will be critical at the job.

Depending on the company you’re getting in, the structure of a product team can change slightly different or too much. Some of them are very aligned to Scrum, while others feel more independent and more organized around the product. Getting to know each one of these roles in general, will be useful to understand what you could expect from them.

Let’s see some of the most common roles and areas👇

A Product Team in Scrum/Agile

Roman Pichler Product Team Alignment example.

- Product Owner: Responsible for driving the product vision and advocating for the customers needs. They are in charge of defining product features, setting priorities, maintaining a product backlog, granting feedback, and making decisions. Is accountable to the stakeholders and the team for delivering a successful product, that's why works closely with other roles in the group, including the Scrum Master and Developers.

- Scrum Master: Responsible for ensuring that the Scrum team follows Scrum principles and practices. They are the facilitator of the team, in charge of making sure that tasks are being accomplished on time. Also, helps the team to identify, discuss, and address any issues that may arise. Allowing the team to stay focused and eliminate any distractions that may occur.

- Development: The Dev team often includes roles like Developers, Designers, QA Engineers and Testers. They all work together to make sure that the product meets the requirements with the highest standards of user experience. Each team member has their own unique skills and expertise, which is essential to making sure that the product is reliable, functional and meets user expectations.

- Stakeholders: They can be individuals, groups, or organizations who have an interest in the performance and outcome of a project. They can have an active role in the project (e.g. providing resources, offering feedback) or a passive role (e.g. concerned citizens or government agencies).

A Product Development Team

Aha! Product Team Alignment example.

- Innovation: This area is responsible for overseeing a team of engineers and scientists responsible for research and development projects. An R&D Director is responsible for setting the overall strategy of research and development projects, managing budgets, developing innovative products and services, and ensuring the successful completion of projects.

- Product Management: They are responsible for the successful development and implementation of products and services. They must be creative and have excellent communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills. They must also have a deep understanding of the customer base to create products that appeal to them and utilize their analytical skills to develop strategies to increase performance and ROI.

- Project Management: They have the responsibility of overseeing a project from beginning to end, managing the budget, timeline and resources. They must have strong organizational, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and a comprehensive understanding of the project and its objectives.

- Product Marketing: Responsible for researching the competitive landscape, understanding their core customers and target markets, crafting compelling product narratives and strategies, measuring and analyzing performance, and communicating the product value proposition.

- Operations: Business analysts use research, data analysis and problem-solving skills to identify issues for companies and provide recommendations to improve their processes, policies, products and customer needs. They conduct market research and gather data, then create reports and make suggestions on the best ways to address these issues.

These are just some examples on how product teams are aligned, but there could be many variations to serve each company’s purposes. Also, the name of the roles can change and some responsibilities can overlap. That’s why it’s important to understand who does what in your team. Here’s how you can do it 👇

5 Keys to succeed with your team

Get to know the team

Take some time to learn about the team culture, dynamics and best practices. This can be done through introductions, either in person, a video call or email. Find out who the key players are, what their roles are and how they work together. By being open to conversations, you will be able to get a better sense of how the team operates and the dynamics between members.

Becoming an active listener and observer during meetings, workshops and group discussions will help you get acclimated to the team’s language, processes and expectations. Additionally, this will also help you to identify any areas for improvement in the team and in your own skills.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Ask questions and seek clarification on processes, standards, and tasks. You may need to ask questions multiple times to ensure you are on the same page as the team, but that’s okay. Just don’t always trust your memory fully. It’s better if you start taking notes from the beginning.

Taking notes and recording calls(if allowed), is also a good way to start demonstrating to your team that you care about the company and what they do. Even if there’s no documentation at all, it is a great opportunity to start creating it! You’ll be perceive as a proactive member and, within time, as domain expert.

Set clear expectations

Let’s face, it’ll be difficult if you compromise to every little thing from the beginning. Most of the times, you’ll end up overloaded and you’ll end up be perceived as someone that does not delivers to what it commits to.

So make sure that you communicate with the team and other stakeholders on what you can and can’t do, and how long it will take for you to complete tasks. This will help the team manage their expectations and will also set you up for success.

Demonstrate your strengths

There’s a good why they hired you, the company and the team need your specific skillset. So invest the time to showcase your skills and knowledge to the team. This is especially important if you’re joining a new team or taking on a new role.

Maybe you’re good at making presentations, or you’re a master in Excel or other software. Any ability that can help your team do their job faster and better it’s incredible valuable. So don’t be afraid to share what you know and also learn from them too.

Step outside of your comfort zone

Once you are fully acclimated to the team, don’t be afraid to take initiative and make decisions. Take risks and try new things in order to find solutions to problems and help drive the team forward. This will demonstrate your confidence and authority and gain credibility within your team members. They’ll see you are serious about helping them and the company to succeed. That’s what leadership is!

Introductory Meetings: Asking the right questions

Directly from the Cracking the PM Career book, I’ve personally have found these questions fundamental when you’re arriving at a new company or product team. Most of these questions will help you to make a good impression and get clear expectations about your role and your manager and teammates.

Honestly, I don’t think their strictly tied to a Product Management role, they could work for any other position too!

Questions for your manager

It is essential to build a positive relationship with your manager from the outset of your career, to ensure the best possible outcome for your future. After all, your manager or leader will be one of the most influential people in your career.

About them:

• What is your working style?

• How would you like us to work together?

• How do you like to communicate; do you prefer written or in person?

• Do you have any pet peeves? Any things you love?

• What are your top goals for this year?

• How can I best help you with your goals?

• Is there anything else I should know about you?

About the role and expectations:

• How do you see my role?

• What makes a great PM?

• What does success look like to you?

• Do you have thoughts on what I should be doing in my first 90 day

• Are there any important deliverable

• Is there a project I should get started on firt?

• How much are you expecting me to shake things up in the beginning vs. execute on the current plans?

• Are there any landmines or controversies to avoid?

• Do you have any ideas for quick wins where I could help the team?

• When is my first feedback or review cycle? Is there anything specific you'd like me to achieve by then?

Questions for executives

An important part of making a good first impression is valuing their time. You don't want to ask informational questions that you could have looked up or should already know. Here are some safe questions for an intro meeting:

• How are you feeling about the company goals?

• What keeps you up at night?

• What's your biggest challenge right now?

• Do you have any specific things you'd like to see me do in this role?

• What's your view of what makes a PM successful at this company?

Questions for close teammates

For your closest teammates, such as your designer and engineering lead, you'll want to start by building a relationship, then making sure expectations are aligned, and finally, looking for opportunities to help the team.

Getting-to-know-you:

• Tell me about yourself. (Do you live near the office? Anything interesting going on outside of work? What do you do for fun? Do you like to travel? Etc.)

• What brought you to this company?

• What are you working on now? What are some of your favorite past projects? What are you looking forward to working on?

• What are your top goals for this year?

Aligning on expectations:

• How would you like to see us work together? What are your expectations for me?

• Are there things you've liked, or not liked, about working with people in my role before? Do you have any pet peeves?

• How often would you like to meet?

Finding opportunities to help:

• How can I help you? What have you been struggling with in this project?

• Are there any areas where my product management skills could add value?

• What can we do to better serve our users?

• Is there any research or customer feedback that would be particularly beneficial to have?

That’s a wrap up!

Have you found using yourself some of the tips above in your onboarding process? And how is your product team structured? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to share!