First week at work successfully completed

Unlike my previous post, this one here is not so stoical and reflective, bur rather raw and fresh out of the excitement of finally having started a new challenge. It is Friday afternoon and I just finished my first 5 days as a new product manager at a new company (new for me :)).

These are my initial reactions:

Top highlights:

Responsiveness, a sense of ownership, willingness to help and tremendous diversity.

As I reached out to different people to get to know them and learned about their roles and areas of responsibility I felt they were all quick and helpful when answering to my questions, but they also were open to bouncing ideas, exploring perspectives and walking with me as I learned and learned and learned.

Whatever function I spoke to, everyone seemed to share the same understanding of what we are trying to achieve and how they can contribute within their area of expertise. This was true whether they had been in the company for 5 years or 3 months.

From my individual experience this is the biggest company I have ever joined and this comes with a new set of challenges. The biggest of all? Information overload.

While I do not see this as a company specific challenge, it is one that tremendously impacts how I navigate my first weeks at the job and therefore how quickly I am able to add value or get lost in the weeds. 

This meant that the most important tool I could rely on from my skillset in this past days was efficiently processing vast amounts of information, managing priorities and putting together a map and learning plan to guide me going forward. I had set the basics for this before getting started, but actually getting started provided me with details that helped define the specifics of the plan. And since this is a process, it will continue as I continue to learn. This is complemented by the support I get from my manager, my teammates and the supporting functions of the organization.

Personal boundaries

Before getting started in the job I did a little exercise to identify what areas of my personal life I was going to have less time for as I moved from being completely off work to becoming again a full time employee. But I also made an effort to look into what I seriously wanted to keep and care for. So two weeks before I doubled down on routines I had been establishing to keep me balanced. 

Whoever knows me well knows I am a slow person in the mornings. I decided to, anyway, try and wake up a little bit earlier every week and cover my exercise routine before starting with the workday. I have been doing this for the past 3 weeks and I intend to stick with in in the months to come. 

I also planned ahead to continue with hobbies, and gatherings with people I care about so I did not fall in the trap of working long hours from the very beginning. I am glad I did this because this helped me switched off my brain by the time I got to bed and come fresh the next day ready to continue learning. Again, this is something I have been working on improving for years and while it is only week one and only time will tell if I can keep at it, my intention is to do it.

Overall, I am tired but satisfied. 

Happy Friday,

Maria ☀️