My Operating Philosophy
I’m flawed in so many ways. But I’ll never stop improving.
My background
I’ve been a product manager for 11 years. I’ve been at a company where I was the first employee and had to grow it from the ground up, raise funding, and grow the team to where I was part of a large Korean conglomerate, Samsung. I’ve now found myself most energized at late-stage startups (200-1,000 ppl). Given I’ve been at a few startups now, I’m very used to being very scrappy and trying to figure out how we can quickly validate things early. While this has many advantages, it’s also revealed to me many areas of growth.
What makes me happy
I get most of my drive and motivation from:
Making an impact and moving the business forward
You can throw me on any type of problem or product, it doesn’t really matter to me. What matters is that I’m providing the most value I can for the company.
Solving real problems
As with all product managers, I get great enjoyment when we’re able to validate our assumptions and bring real value to our customers. When we launch a product and it resonates with a customer, I’m instantly overjoyed.
Passions in life
I love meeting people with strong hobbies or unique skills. It doesn’t matter to me as much about what that is or whether I share an interest, but if you have a unique thing you’re passionate about, we can strike up a good conversation. My own personal passion for creating things from scratch is very important to me and is fuel to me. I can have a bad week and if I can spend time in the workshop, I’ll come out a happier man.
Family
Not much needs to be said here. Family is important to me. More important than anything on this page. Period.
How I think and prioritize
There are a few things that I apply to almost everything I do.
Start with why
While I have already forgotten most of Simon Sinek’s book, the main premise of starting with why resonates with me. When approached with a solution or an ask, I always try to understand the motivations and the reasoning behind it. While it may annoy folks at times when I ask why we are doing this, my intentions are not to demean but to further understand how I can help you meet your objectives. I apply this rigorously and will often push back on things unless I understand what value it brings.
Think big and simplify
I spend lots of time thinking about bigger picture ideas in vague abstract forms and will spend time drawing diagrams, finding frameworks, or phrasing things in a certain manner in order to simplify the idea. It’s not until I have things crisp in my head with a diagram do I feel like I really have these ideas solved.
Making impact over continuity
I favor impact over continuity. This means that I will use whatever tool, resource, or method I find most effective in accomplishing my task. I’m well aware that this however comes at a cost of continuity. As we scale this becomes a more conscious thing I need to consider.
My Management Principles
Empower teams
I’m a big proponent of empowered teams. While I’m still honing this skill, I do believe that strong teams are built when members have the autonomy to make their own decisions. I don’t like to micromanage. This first starts by setting vision, strategy, and context. Ideally, I want the team to be defining their own goals, their own initiatives and drive the roadmap in the direction they see fit.
Empathize by nature
I’m sensitive to how my team is doing and want to understand how life is outside of work. I want to make sure my team understands that I don’t just care about their career but I deeply care about them.
Culture of growth
While this applies beyond management, I highly encourage my team and others to consistently grow.
Be there
While I want the team to run autonomously, I also want to be there for them. This means understanding their business well and what variables they consider. This helps me guide them through their decision-making process. This also allows me to be there for them when they need me – even if that means running an initiative on their behalf if they don’t have the capacity or if they want to take a week off.
Lead with integrity
Regardless of whether someone is watching. Always do the right thing. And I expect others around me to do the same.
Thirst for feedback
I try to give regular feedback – though this is an area I want to continue to grow. I believe it’s important for the individuals to get regular feedback from their managers and peers in order for them to calibrate where they’re doing well and where they have opportunities for improvement. Just like in product development, without feedback, we’ll be spending time on improving areas that may not be the most impactful.
My Personal Product Principles
Constantly Validate
We must always be validating our assumptions. Not only may we assume the wrong thing from our customer’s actions or opinions, but the landscape may change right before us. We must never assume that we have it all figured out, or the product that we have and is adored by our customers will continue to be. We must continually get feedback on whether we’re meeting our customer’s needs.
Solve real problems
This one is a no-brainer. It’s not enough to launch things and get it out there for publicity’s sake; we’re here to solve real problems.
Get to know the customer
There’s no substitute for getting to know the customer intimately. This can’t be outsourced or delegated. Product Managers must intimately know their customers and be constantly talking to them. This is probably the reason I love being on sales pitches.
Focus
I’m not great at this, but I do believe that focus needs to be at the forefront of our decision-making and prioritization. Enough said.
Seek for compounding efforts
What we do as a team together should be consistently compounding, otherwise, we’re building a disparate wide product that will have difficulty scaling.
Values
Growth mentality
Regardless of your position in the organization or in your personal life, those who have a growth mentality will accomplish anything they set their eyes on.
Vulnerability and Humbleness
I want all team members to feel vulnerable with each other. This allows the team to raise concerns fluidly and make sure we’re keeping each other safe.
The team before the self
Check your ego and be there for the team. Your team needs you, and your team will be there for you when you need help – said differently, be there for the team, and they’ll be there for you.
Take Ownership
if a process is broken or an initiative is at risk, take ownership and fix it. Don’t assume that someone else will tackle the problem. If you don’t have the means or bandwidth to address it, ensure someone else takes ownership of it.
Things I’m working on
Enjoying life
Kid you not. This is one of my greatest challenges right now. With the pandemic, two young kids, and a while 2 years at a hyper-growth company, I haven’t been enjoying life as much as I should. Part of that is coming to terms that this is how life will be for a while and don’t wait to get out of it but instead enjoy the journey I’m on.
Scaling
I don’t come from organizations that have tried and tested processes that will scale to thousands of employees. I have lots to improve and explore to ensure that we’re delivering products and building careers that scale.
Finding leverage
I need to find avenues of leverage. I often take the route of doing things myself. I need to find ways to leverage the team more effectively and spend my time leading the team.
How you can help
Constantly give me feedback
Create a vulnerable environment
Remind me to enjoy the ride