Every once in a while I like to take a moment and reflect on some key lessons that I have learned. Given that I am transitioning to a new opportunity I thought that this would be a good time to share some thoughts...

Listen
This is an important skill that I see so many managers and leaders lacking. After managing my team for several months I learned that you have to listen to, learn from, and respect everyone you work with. When folks know that you are listening they listen to you as well. Projects and people move forward when they listen.

Manage Knowledge and Information
In a technology company you have to know your product. This can be complex. Set up a wiki, document your knowledge to share with others. This will not only help you learn and grow, but also help your team and others. This can drive sales enablement materials as well.

Know your audience
When you give a presentation think about your audience and the perspectives they have and questions they may have. I'm also a big believer in managing your manager. As an employee it is important to understand your manager's style of communication, likes and dislikes, etc. Leadership is about the ability to influence and you can't influence that which you do not know.

Be Positive
Sometimes its easy to get bogged down in the negative. Focus on the positive. For me, I've focused on what I have learned and how I have grown as a product manager. I am also quite thankful for the opportunities i have been given. Nobody likes to work with a grumpy product manager!

Your success is defined by the success of your team
As a leader and manager of a team, it has always helped me to be a "servant leader" to enable my team's success. I have taken a lot of pride in developing and growing the team to help deliver the best product and product information to market. Allow your team to succeed and your success will follow

Succession Planning is important
I know we typically hear about this for CEOs and other C-level executives...but succession planning for your team? I say yes! If you have done a good job mentoring your team and leading them to success, then this won't be that difficult. I recently transitioned into a new role within my former company and my previous team didn't miss a beat. It feels a bit weird to not feel needed anymore, but I can honestly say I'm proud of that accomplishment.

Transparency in product development
When I started my role running the program and project teams, things were a mess, nobody knew where the projects were in the "process" and nobody knew who was working on what. The first thing I did was put "windows on the factory". We started tracking how our resources were being allocated against our priorities and we defined a simple process that was just enough process for us. We could now track our projects against this process. It wasn't perfection on day one, but it was clearly a step in the right direction.