When starting as the top product person, you first need to understand what your organization needs and expects of you. Is your job to articulate a compelling vision for your product or to run with something you inherited? Will you be judged on strategy or execution? Is it a go-faster play or a reclamation project?
Subscribe to my weekly Nano-letter:
You also need to understand what will drive success for your adopted organization. Is it all about sales? Cutting-edge tech? A compelling roadmap? What does YOUR team need to provide to make the rest of the org go?
To figure all of this out, leverage your product research skills. Your first customer interviews should be with your stakeholders. Don’t ask them what they want. Ask them what they are working toward and then figure out how your team can help them be successful (even awesome).
For good or ill, product has an outsized effect on other functions. What are your requirements for the VP in the first 100 days? Tell me a story.