Your First 90 Days as Head of Product - Where to Focus

Quick answer: Focus on setting the product strategy, building a strong Product team, and accelerating the pace of development to ensure faster learning.

This article is an adapted translation of "What's Your Focus During Your First 90 Days as Head of Product?" by Gibson Biddle. Enjoy reading!

Drawing from my 30-year career in Product, I’ve joined startups with proof-of-concept products and helped scale them. After four to five years, I’d move on, gaining extensive experience as a Head of Product. In the first 90 days, I focus on ensuring that the Product team is heading in the right direction with the necessary people and resources to build products quickly.

Think of the Product organization as a cannon. Is it aimed in the right direction? Does it have the right people to load and fire it? Are there enough cannonballs and powder for rapid shots?

In my first 90 days, I:

I move quickly, understanding that the company hired me to be a change agent. It’s a balancing act: move too fast, and I risk mistakes; move too slow, and I miss my chance to inspire change. People expect changes when I arrive, but they’ll resist them later.

I also avoid “copy-pasting” strategies from my previous roles, as each situation requires fresh thinking, and teams are naturally wary of recycled approaches.

Here’s how I tackle this challenge in the first 90 days.

1. Establish the Product Strategy

During the first two weeks, I create what I call a SWAG (Stupid Wild-Ass Guess) for the product strategy. I then share it in one-on-one meetings with peers, direct reports, and the CEO. This timeframe forces me to quickly learn about the product, company, and industry, so I spend my first two weeks asking many questions.

The SWAG product strategy includes:

I develop a strategy for the overall product rather than each individual product stream. I then ask each Product leader to articulate the strategy for their area, which sometimes informs my own. After a month or two, I share a refined version of the product strategy with the entire company and the board.

I prioritize product strategy because there’s significant value in steering the organization in the right direction. If the Product team is off track or unfocused, it wastes time and resources.

Note: I wrote a 12-part series on Medium called “How to Define Your Product Strategy” if you’d like to dive deeper.

2. Build the Team

To understand the business and operational mechanics, I spend time with the CEO, peers, and direct reports:

In all these conversations, I strive to understand the company culture. I ask many questions to understand how company values shape people, products, and business decisions.

My primary focus is on the Product team. In fast-growing startups, teams are often disorganized, filled with friends, family, and “early hires” who may not have the necessary skills to scale the company. Organizational structure can also be ambiguous, with team members unclear about their reporting lines.

A significant challenge is that about half of the people working for me may lack the skills needed. I focus on evaluating my direct reports, assessing their skills and potential, and by the end of three months, I inform individuals about any role changes. This sometimes means letting people go or finding new leaders for them.

Most Heads of Product avoid these conversations, try to “make do” with the current team, or get overwhelmed with recruitment. I’ve learned to address these tough issues early on, ensuring I have the right team by the end of my first year. By the third month, I start dedicating one to two days a week to recruiting.

During these first months, I clarify the organizational structure and set up weekly meetings with my reports and a weekly Product team meeting. These meetings help me get to know the individuals in the Product organization and anticipate potential issues to address quickly.

3. Drive High-Cadence Output

Innovative companies build rapidly, allowing for faster learning. Conversely, slow development often results from a lack of:

Initially, I identify areas that act as bottlenecks. I clarify who is responsible for addressing these issues and ensure they resolve them, as teams are only as strong as their weakest link.

I spend over half of my time with the product stream I believe has the most potential for delivering results. Here’s how I help them progress:

My goal is to establish this team as a model for others to emulate. People resist being told what to do but are more likely to follow by example. Working side by side with this model team allows me to connect with them while creating an example for others.

As this team’s productivity and learning accelerate, I invite other leaders to join the monthly strategy meetings. Eventually, these other teams will structure their meetings similarly.

If things go well, by the end of my first 90 days, I gather all teams for our first quarterly product strategy meeting. Each team shares their future hypotheses, results, and learnings. Since this first meeting can be risky, I invite the CEO and other leaders to our second quarterly meeting to showcase our progress.

For more details, read “How To Run a Quarterly Product Strategy Meeting” on Medium or see my management systems article.

Conclusion

This article focuses on Heads of Product, but here are some takeaways for any role in the first three months:

  1. Ensure alignment with the right direction: Clarify strategy, metrics, and projects toward your goals.
  2. Spend time with your team: Make sure you have the right people to deliver results.
  3. Focus on driving high-cadence output: Address any weaknesses in tools, systems, or resources.

If done right, these first 90 days build the foundation for a successful first year. As momentum grows, continue refining the product strategy, updating teams, and ensuring they have the resources to increase their pace.

If you want more insights into my first year as VP of Product at Netflix, check out my podcast on this topic.