7 things I wish I knew before I became a product manager

About a year ago I started a soul-searching process.  I was ‘suffering’ from professional schizophrenia.  I started my career as researcher on the sociology of Wikipedia with the emphasis on community dynamics and trust, then joined Yahoo! as their community go-to person.  I contributed product ideas, helped them formed their European objectives, and did some independent consulting there after with clients including Vodafone.  There are bits and pieces that I am passionate about – bringing people together to deliver good products for the users, delivering user support system, working with legal and tech to ensure things are done right…  I was called a consultant, a manager, an experience designer.

What happened then was a series of serendipitous encounters and I ended up joining IPC Media as their Social Media Product Manager.  Now that’s interesting and exciting, it’s the first time I truly do something that I was meant to do – deliver products that solve problems, and enhance user’s user experience.

Oh wait, I’m actually a, urm, product manager?

The presentation below highlights the top 7 things I wish I knew before I became a product manager, hope you’d find it useful, too!

Feel free to let us know what other tips I have had missed, and definitely don’t miss out on the book list.  This is just my 1%, but I’m sure you guys would have lots more to contribute.