In her keynote at #mtpcon London 2023, Keji Adedeji, Product Director at the Financial Times, shines a light on some of the product “gremlins” that plague people at work, and some of the antidotes required to help manage them. Watch the video in full, or read on for highlights from her talk.
Key takeaways
- It’s not uncommon for product people to experience feelings of self-doubt and fear, and face burnout and imbalance in their lives
- Career progression is an obstacle to overcome, with each step potentially leading to a major change and sense of impostor syndrome
- Being intentional and cultivating practices around self-awareness, self-care and community, and understanding how to meet your organisation where it’s at can help you manage and overcome some of these challenges
Keji begins by polling the audience, determining that “we all love this job, it’s super fulfilling, but product management can also be hard”. With reference to the 1980s cult classic Gremlins, Keji introduces the concept of product gremlins, things which “can get in the way of our wellbeing and our growth […] and last much longer than one night”.
Introducing product gremlins
The first product gremlins that Keji presents are self-doubt and comparison, which challenge your sense of self worth, belonging and purpose and, if entertained, can lead you to “end up in a shootout against yourself”. Keji describes a time in her own career when she faced these gremlins and felt insecure, questioning whether she was doing “proper product”, all while in a company that had grown 2 ed-tech products to be leaders in multiple markets.
“It’s the sort of thing that can prevent you from growth and opportunities”, she says, “we talk ourselves out of playing.” For example, those from underrepresented groups may wonder whether they belong in “the room” at all, or are there because “they just want someone like you”. In other examples, these feelings can more practically lead product people to over rely on frameworks and methodologies, due to lack of confidence.
The progression wall gremlin comes next and is related to growth, career development and sense of choice. The progression wall can give you the sense of feeling stuck, or overwhelm you with the paths you could take. In the product industry, people often lack clarity on progression opportunities and can also end up staying too long in a comfortable or unambitious role, questioning whether they’ll ever have the “right skills and capabilities to progress”.
The next Gremlin is imbalance, which “affects every single product person […] it is the challenge we have to maintain a work-life balance and avoid burnout”. Looking to the leaders in the room, Keji explains how “even when you work in an organisation that values wellbeing, those practices, those environments, can still help us form bad habits”. She points to the demands on a product person to add value, while balancing stakeholders, rituals, deadlines, impatient CEOs and backlogs, among other things.
Keji explains how she took her first leadership role during the pandemic, and led her to a point of burnout where her physical and mental health were affected. Burnout, Keji says, alters a person’s entire being, including their cognitive processes,and can affect their relationships and sense of self. Major step change and fear are gremlins that can come with a promotion, when you find yourself at the bottom of the skill ladder yet again, doubting your capabilities and wondering if you’ll be “found out”.
Product gremlin antidotes
There are antidotes to each of the gremlins. The first is to cultivate self-awareness. Start by creating a space to reflect, such as a weekly recurring meeting with yourself, set-time each day, or by accessing therapy if it’s available to you. Importantly, we should approach self awareness and reflection with the knowledge that “it’s a lifelong endeavour”. Understanding patterns like comfort and discomfort zones and triggers, as well as the thighs that help you thrive, can support you as you navigate the things around you. She encourages us to seek feedback and celebrate success, to not “shy away from the positive stuff”, and to prioritise self-care.
Be intentional with your career and find what’s important to you. Keji recommends we recognise the vision, principles and values we uphold and to build a growth roadmap that will help identify what “type, stage size of company and products are going to help you build those skills”.
Keji recognises the Mind The Product audience is already a step ahead, but implores us to find community, because “it takes a village”. She recommends we “find ways to form connections, nurture relationships” and look for mentors to accelerate growth. She explains the power and value of finding like-minded people who are also experiencing the same things as you.
Her final antidote is to meet your organisation where it’s at, focusing on the influence you have, and what you can reasonably change, without overextending yourself. That said, she recommends taking different and new challenges when they become available, looking at opportunities to expand your skills, develop new practices and find where your comfort zone allows you to go. It’s about staying curious and being open to new things.
Lastly, a bonus gremlin: silence. Keji references how during a time of burnout she was interviewed by Dominique Jost, CPO at Doist, who was meeting with 50 product leaders, and the conversation was “exactly what I needed in a moment when I felt ashamed for struggling”. Openly discussing challenges and struggles is something Keji encourages everyone to do –to “shine a light” on the realities product people face, and destigmatize these realities together.
Keji closes by emphasising how “it’s not uncommon to struggle” and reminds us how “it’s all of our jobs to open the curtains, shine and direct some light on your gremlins and talk about these things out loud”.
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