# Product Manager onboarding ## First day ### Objective: Get a good idea of what your first few weeks and months at Mattermost will be. ### Activities * Meet with direct manager * Review your area of ownership and team members * [Product Areas of Ownership](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-handbook/blob/0.2.1/operations/research-and-development/product/product-management-team-handbook/product-ownership-areas/README.md) * [R\&D Org](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/research-and-development/organization) * Get added to key organization and team meetings * Get 1:1 set up for the next few weeks for frequent check-ins * Review the onboarding plan for first 90 days * HR Paperwork & Logistics * Look at the product with “fresh eyes” * Install Mattermost on your laptop, go through the steps of setting it up * Optionally also install the Mattermost Mobile App on your mobile device * As you read the documentation, look out for any improvements that can be made (outdated information, spelling/grammar, etc) ## First week ### Objective: Get an introduction to product, customers, team members, resources, and processes ### Training focus * Introduction to our Customer Obsession Principle * Introductions to team members through 1-1s * Use introductions as learning opportunities to understand different parts of the company (ask questions!) * Introduction to product * Introduction to key resources * Introduction to key processes ### Training outcomes * Post introduction to PM team to GTM teams. Request to join customer calls * Get access to key tools (Jira, Github) * Open your first pull request in Github for an improvement to docs.mattermost.com or in-product text. ### Activities Customer Obsession: * Join and introduce yourself in these channels, ask to join any and all customer calls - see if you can get a couple scheduled this week: * [Product Management](https://community.mattermost.com/private-core/channels/product-management) * [GTM:PM Engagement](https://community.mattermost.com/private-core/channels/csmpm-engagement) (Stu Doherty, Jenn Lawler) * [Sales Discussion](https://community.mattermost.com/private-core/channels/sales-discussion) (Lance Howden, Steve Green, Richard Pidgeon) * Join and review the topics and posts in these channels to get a better understanding of our customers: * [Customer Feedback](https://community.mattermost.com/private-core/channels/customer-feedback) * [Customer Support](https://community.mattermost.com/private-core/channels/community) * Begin watching training videos on [academy.mattermost.com](https://academy.mattermost.com/) * Begin reading [docs.mattermost.com](https://docs.mattermost.com/) Team: * Join a location-specific channel (e.g. `Loc: Canada` or `Loc: US`) for region-specific updates * Meet your R\&D team (Developers, Designer, QA, Technical Writer) and join team meetings * Ask questions to understand development, design, QA processes, and documentation processes * Meet with Amy (Release Manager) and read the release process doc * Meet with Ian (CEO) \[[https://github.com/it33/readme/blob/master/README.md](https://github.com/it33/readme/blob/master/README.md/)). This will be scheduled for you * Meet other Product Managers (Jason Blais, Eric Sethna, Katie Wiersgalla, Ian Tao, Chen-I Lim, Neil Barnett, Winson Wun, Laney Coletti-Saracino, Don Hogan, John Lugtu, Sandy Atkinson) * Learn about their areas of ownership * Participate in PM, R\&D, and Customer Obsession Meetings * Jira * Sign up to Jira and post in the “Jira configuration” channel to be added to internal team * Get Jira training from PM buddy * [Mattermost Platform](https://mattermost.atlassian.net/projects/MM/issues/MM-10977?filter=allopenissues) * Make your first edit and pull request on GitHub * Update documentation or product help text * Make other small contributions based on your fresh experience with Mattermost * File a bug in Jira * Test a new feature on a test server and suggest an improvement in our UX feedback channel * Leave feedback on a design proposal in our spec channel Fresh perspective product review: Before diving too deeply into docs, processes, and everything else - take this chance to share a list of questions, observations, and points of confusion to help with your own learning and to provide feedback on your first impressions of Mattermost for the rest of the team. A good place to start is exploring the websites, and then start a cloud trial account. * Google Mattermost * [https://mattermost.com](https://mattermost.com/) * [https://docs.mattermost.com](https://docs.mattermost.com/) * [https://developers.mattermost.com](https://developers.mattermost.com/) * [http://github.com/mattermost](https://github.com/mattermost/) ## First 30 days ### Objective: Build your foundational knowledge of our company, product, and market. ### Training focus * Users and customers * Product * Features/Functions * Technical * Market and Competitive Landscape * Team * People and Processes ### Training outputs * Post detailed notes from customer calls in [Salesforce](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/customer-success#logging-a-customer-feedback-in-salesforce) * Answer at least one question during the week of community support in the Mattermost [forum](https://forum.mattermost.com/) * Document areas of improvement you see in your area of ownership or in team's processes. Share these with your manager. * Update this onboarding document. ### Activities Learn about our customers and users * Learn about Mattermost Support by getting an overview on support processes and systems * Customers: Zendesk (Sven Huester, Support Lead)) * Community: GitHub, Forums (Amy Blais) * Learn about Customer Success (Brent Fox) * Overview of Customer Success team, who owns what * Current Customer Success processes * Typical challenges during customer onboarding * Join one CSM team meeting to meet the rest of the CS team * Join customer and prospective customer calls * Join calls with CSMs & Sales team * Take detailed notes and log in [Salesforce](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/customer-success#logging-a-customer-feedback-in-salesforce) * Review feature requests * [Process feedback in productboard](https://mattermost.productboard.com/insights/shared-inbox) * Spend a week doing community support in the Mattermost[forum](https://mattermost.uservoice.com/) * Review documentation first and work with Support Lead or PM mentor to answer any questions documentation does not address * Update docs with answers as appropriate Learn about the market * Learn about Mattermost Sales (Regional VPs and Customer Engineers) * Sales team overview * Sales team priorities * What competitors are we up against * How does Sales team position the product * What are typical challenges for the Sales team * Which sales do we win, which do we lose * What are the most common questions on configurations and trials * Learn about Mattermost Marketing (Marketing Team Lead) * Marketing team overview * What are the Marketing team’s priorities * What is our current messaging and positioning around Mattermost * What is needed from Product Managers to support Marketing initiatives * Do some mini competitive research analysis * Review of MS Teams, Slack, Discord, and other collaboration products Learn about the product * Product Direction (Product Lead) * Current Year Company goals and strategy * Review videos on [Mattermost Academy](https://academy.mattermost.com/) * Technical Architecture (Feature Team dev lead) * Reference: * [High level overview (slideshow summary)](https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/1/d/1Z44Yhaab7ul7yrnyYjQpq_T2A_z0GbrYMYe8Ov6zRZw/edit#slide=id.g1994d3cd93_0_507) * [High level system design document (more detailed)](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NF6D3K83FfDaVcbPNeIFhS-Uw-otQEcsSecxQZhOaEQ/edit) * [Navigating the Mattermost database](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BuZaYHkmUgitKtLNbeV3mq6xa0ZwFyPw8Qc6aFZalZE/edit?ts=5cc0bb36) * Product areas: Functional Overview and Roadmap * Reference: * [PM Areas of Ownership](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/research-and-development/product/product-management-team-handbook/product-ownership-areas) * [Roadmap - All teams](https://mattermost.productboard.com/portal/19-combined-highlighted-features) * [Engineering OKRs](https://community.mattermost.com/boards/workspace/p33mj7xh4frntrtbxbp5xp1joy/886d2280-e88e-4065-8c85-1b62578f192e/2a95356b-d97a-461a-8bb3-f61ca8ff5da7) * Product Analytics * Tips on things to watch out for if running your own analytics * Dive into product analytics (via Looker) Learn about the product development process * High level overview (PM buddy) * [Team structure](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lH8QIjQGEoGospDUdVs_LQ_i2b82I1ce6W7z18vhPTQ/edit?usp=sharing) * [Product planning overview](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/research-and-development/product/product-planning/product-philosophy-and-principles) * Team-specific processes (PM buddy) * Team Triage * Sprint Planning * OKRs * Join all feature team meetings (Triage, Sprint Planning) * Design process (Feature team designer) * [Spec template](https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1QC4-qysnp3DuPS5nROUpL31WtiJ7RhZCXz24T1WgTko/edit#heading=h.2msta3abogxt) * Competitor research * User research * Review process * Spec review channel * Working with contributor community (Jason Blais) * Help wanted tickets * Community buddies * …? * Release process * QA process (QA team member) * General QA process * Sites for testing * Release testing process * Add to release testing * [Release Testing assignment example](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gW7i8uF3jd5wuHd5mJ7UdBQsMFVZwHKMXE7WOtlDa0k/edit#gid=1130032476) * Release process (Amy, Release Manager) * [Release process](https://handbook.mattermost.com/operations/research-and-development/product/release-process) * [Extended Support Release](https://docs.mattermost.com/administration/extended-support-release.html) * Shadow feature team meetings and conversations * Contribute where possible (reviewing research and design specs, filing Jira ticket bugs) * Ramp up on a couple of ongoing projects or smaller projects * Identify areas of improvement for your area of improvement. * Other projects identified by PM mentor to assist in learning about your area of ownership Update this onboarding document! * Helpful links, FAQs, and summaries of what you learned that would be useful for a new PM to know in the future * Example past project: [Business Model Canvas](https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/1/d/1vMXmuJf_EuxPWzCeeAWswnexwo9zTE5qBumKx-8We0E/edit#slide=id.p) ## First 60 days ### Objective: Build confidence through contribution in your area ownership ### Training focus * Participate in job duties and acquire ownership of a full feature (or more). ### Training outputs * Document detailed notes from customer calls for requirements and use cases. * Kick off a project with the UX, Engineering and QA. * Write spec document and release announcements for your feature. ### Activities * Participate in transitional projects with exiting PM owner * Interview customers or users for research for an upcoming project * Document research findings, use cases and requirements * Work with UX team on specs for your project and validation of designs with customers * Work with Development on specs and PR reviews for your project * Work with QA on test plans * Prepare customer facing documentation for your project * Allow PM mentor to shadow you and review your work, providing guidance and feedback * Other projects identified by PM mentor to assist in learning about your area of ownership ## First 90 days ### Objective: Take full ownership of responsibilities ### Training focus * Own all features within the release * Update and maintain roadmap * Work directly with developers, designers, and other stakeholders to progress projects ### Training outputs * Update and share roadmap with your direct manager. * Respond to customers and internal stakeholders on questions relating to areas of your ownership. * Prepare research and requirements for next upcoming projects. ### Activities * Prepare research and queue next projects * Work independently with Feature team (Dev, UX, QA) * Answer questions related to the projects you have been involved in and areas of ownership within the product (with support as needed from PM mentor).