To Be A Product Manager | Week 59

05-21

來自專欄 ZAKE ZHANG

This journal helps me improve 1% every day…

Welcome to Week 59 of

To Be A Product Manager

When you have nothing to write, you will start to think about the original idea of whys. Why did I start this product manager journal? Why did I write it in English? And why did I make it a weekly routine and share it on public? Everyone should at least have some kind of privacy, and normally people don』t want it show it here and I totally get it.

However, I』m quite the opposite. Sharing what I』m up to, good or bad, is a way to document, review and see what I can improve. Publishing publicly is also a way to have some social pressure on myself, leaving me no choice but always to be the GUY that I want to be, while I』m sitting and writing in a purely rational mode.

As for the bad things and vulnerabilities, on one hand, it makes this journey as a product manager more authentic, on the other, I also need to confident enough to be not afraid that someone will use them to work against me. I』m who I am, so try me if you dare. (I think nobody will give a shit since I』m nobody)

Okay, that』s enough to convince myself to keep writing this journal.

What I』m doing

Still, after a month of joining the current company, I don』t have specific tasks. As I said, I don』t think they really need this position right now. 「AI+AR」 camera could be a really nice additional feature, but not the essentials.

So this entire week, I spent my time on 2 main things: exploring the potential possibilities in AR+AI gaming, and learning what has been announced in Google I/O 2018, either writing what I learn from the talk or playing with some codes to make a demo.

I used to use sticky notes every day, writing down what are the most important things on the list, checking and updating the list before heading home. But at Bytedance, I try to make a good use of Evernote, which initially I learned from my mentor at the VR startup.

Every day you start a new note, the title could be the date, for example 「12 May, 2018」. And you could still write down what the most important tasks for you today, and check them before leaving office. What』s more important, you could also document the day. That could include the new technologies you find cool and overwhelming, the great blog posts you』ve read, and your personal thoughts and ideas.

Take them with you, and you will be surprised how much information you』ve consumed and learned throughout the year.

My name is Zake Zhang, a product manager based in Shenzhen, China. I write weekly product journal and reflection.

Thanks for reading and let』s keep on hacking!

Warm Regards,

Zake