Becoming a (more) Technical Product Manager Part III: Learning How To Learn Again
Teething Pains in My Learning Journey
In this series, I will take you through my journey to improve my technical knowledge as a Product Manager in an early-stage startup. I hope it can provide you with inspiration for your own development plans, and that you can save time using the resources and frameworks I share. If you haven’t read the last two articles in the series, start there!
I’m making progress on my learning and structuring my content, slowly. So far I’ve been squeezing in time in between work and gym, but the first ‘study day’ where I can commit an 8 hour block to focus is soon approaching.
However, what’s surprised me the most is how much I’ve learnt about learning from this exercise. Maybe because it’s been years since I’ve tried to tackle such a big learning project from scratch, or because I’m actually learning how much I don’t know. Here are three of my learnings from the project, and a reading list to get you started.
You can learn anything you want for free online
If you needed a poke to go ahead and learn a new skill, but have been saying you “don’t have the money” or “don’t have the time”, here is your sign.
It’s hard not to fall into rabbit holes during this project, because there is just so much information out there.
And it’s available for every learning style, too! Sometimes I’m listening to youtube videos on Kubernetes whilst I cook, sometimes its a podcast on a walk, but mostly it’s articles and blog posts.
The difficulty is in finding the use case that is relevant to you, and working back via Google to the level of information you need. Sometimes, you might think you need to know the answer to “What is Kubernetes”, but upon starting a youtube video realise that you need to take a few steps back to “What is Cloud Computing”, or even “What is a Server?”.
It’s extremely difficult to “Explain Like I’m 5”
My goal is to create a series of articles that almost anybody could understand, that helps a Product Manager to understand the development process.
I don’t know how much existing expertise the PMs reading my posts will have. I can’t assume much existing knowledge. Which means I can’t leave technical terms undefined, or refer to a concept early in an article that I don’t explain until later.
For example, to explain Kubernetes, a reader first has to understand the benefits of cloud computing. And to understand that, they need to first understand the alternatives to cloud computing and how physical data servers work. And actually, what is a data server? There’s a tradeoff between using precise technical language and explaining to the reader why this matters to a business in as few words as possible.
To distill a concept to its simplest form, in as few words as possible, is REALLY difficult. But as a Product Manager, it’s probably one of the most transferrable skills I’ll ever learn. My business stakeholders don’t need to know what an endpoint for an API is. They just need to know that our business partner is in the process of making data available to us.
I’m glad I’m doing this the hard way
So far I’ve probably spent about 20 hours reading what any engineer would consider basic material. I’m only 20% of the way through the content I want to cover. And I’ve only written about 2500 words, because every paragraph I write references 5–10 different articles. This is taking way longer than I anticipated!
Like I said, it’s hard to be concise. But the act of synthesising is valuable in and of itself. Now if I had to teach these concepts to another PM in my role some day, I’d be much more confidently able to. As the saying goes, “If you want to master something, teach it”.
In the process, I’m learning about the science of learning. Besides the usual books on ultralearning (listed below), which confirm my theory that ‘desirable difficulties’ improve learning, I’m reading ‘The Thing Explainer’ by Randall Munroe as an example of the kind of content I’d like to create.
Munroe explains how everything from a dishwasher to a car engine works, whilst only using the most common words in the English language. Given my tendency for flowery language, I’ll try to bring a bit of The Thing Explainer into the Technical Product Manager guide…
Reading recommendations
So, before I get back to writing about relational databases, I’d like to leave you with a few reading suggestions I have been looking to during my studies.
- The Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, Randall Munro
- Ultralearning: Accelerate your Career, Master Hard Skills and Outsmart the Competition, Scott H. Young
- Nicely Said: Writing For The Web With Style And Purpose, Nicole Fenton and Kate Lee
- Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter Brown, Mark McHenry and Henry Roediger
- Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention, Johann Hari
Any other books you’d recommend to ‘learn how to learn’?
If you’re interested in the actual content I’m learning, as well as a list of all the resources I’ve referenced, don’t forget to subscribe for notifications. The first chapter, “What is the Internet”, should be arriving in the next few weeks!
Editor’s Note — 23/05
You can now go straight to the “meaty stuff” below!
The Introductory Content
The Technical Content