7 habits that will help you stay engaged and focused on delivering a great product experience

Habits. So much has been written about the power of habits, how to keep good ones, and how to detect bad ones. Habits help form the foundation of living a fulfilling life. For example, as a writer, I know it’s a good habit to write. Some of us journal for 10 minutes, others choose to write uninterrupted for a page nonstop. It’s not necessarily important what the exact habit is, just that it’s something you can commit to regularly to achieve a bigger goal, such as publishing a book (I’m working on it, ok?).

In our free eBook, The Path to Product Excellence: Stories and Advice from the Field, Alicia Dixon writes about a habit she needed to break because of the effect it could have had on her product management career.

“A lot of product managers have had that meeting with an executive where somewhere in the conversation the executive says, ‘I have a few ideas for the product.’ She then proceeds to tell you about a personal experience she had using your product, followed by a detailed ‘recommendation’ of how to update the product to improve her experience. Her ideas are OK, but not great, and more importantly, they deviate from your product strategy.”

In Alicia’s case, she implemented the recommendation, but the project had so many issues that they ended up losing the customer.

“‘Following orders’ is just one example of a bad habit that product managers tend to pick up once they have worked in the field for a while.”

In the rest of her piece, Alicia offers 7 good habits to help you be an engaged and focused Product Manager. The 4th habit will shock you! Just kidding, it’s writing.

“These tactics have worked for my friends and me, and by no means are they the only things you can do. Overall, the key is to make sure to stay fresh by challenging your mind and continuing to grow. If you do that, you can focus on the work of continuously delivering a great product experience.”

To read Alicia’s tips and to get more stories and advice from product experts such as Dan Olsen, Kat Kennedy, and Hiten Shah, download our eBook!