Your New PM Learning Resources, Knowledge Database, and Archive
Where and how to start. The Product Compass newsletter 101.
Hi, Paweł here. Welcome to the free edition of The Product Compass. Every week, I share actionable tips and resources for PMs.
Consider upgrading your account if you haven’t already for the full experience:
One of the most common questions I get from you is where and how to start. There are so many articles, courses, books, templates, and different sources here.
I have prepared:
New PM Resources to help you with your work.
A new Posts Archive by category to help you find the information faster.
A refreshed PM Competencies Map so you can quickly connect the dots.
Advice on Where and How to Start to help you plan your learning.
Let’s explore them one by one:
1. New PM Resources
Here, you can find our refreshed PM resources: https://res.productcompass.pm/
In particular:
For example, a new PM Book collection:
And more detailed information (and a link to our interview not visible in the screenshot) after opening a book:
Resources available on Substack haven’t changed:
I didn’t change our premium Notion collection and premium Notion templates. You can still copy them to your Notion account and adjust freely.
2. Posts Archive by Category
The old archive wasn’t really useful:
In the new archive that is already integrated into the top navigation, you can easily browse our posts by category:
After clicking an element, you now open The Product Compass, not a Notion page.
3. Updated PM Competencies Map
I reviewed all the newsletter posts and updated our interactive PM Competencies Map with 8 categories used in our PM skills assessments:
Business and Strategy
Execution
Leadership
Data Analytics
Product Discovery
Experimentation
Product Marketing
Product Growth
The same categories are used for posts and other PM resources like books, videos, and articles. Most nodes contain links to posts, articles, and websites.
4. Where and How to Start?
Here are the steps I recommend you to take by default:
If you have yet to transition into product management:
Read How to Become a PM.
Take one of the free PM introductory courses from Pendo or LinkedIn.
Review the PM skills required for your next desired role here.
Assess your knowledge using PM Skills Assessments and get feedback and learning materials to study and improve.
Double down on Product Discovery by default. It is, by far, the most critical area for a PM:
Prioritize Product Discovery and Experimentation (a sub-category) skills assessments, videos, and posts.
To dive deeper, consider the Continuous Product Discovery Course, free for premium subscribers. Many courses from other areas, like Product-Led Growth, are free but shouldn’t be your first choice.
Critical: Develop a habit of learning regularly rather than only when needed. What works best for me is processing knowledge continuously and comparing it with my work experience:
Reading a single post takes 5-10 minutes. Everyone can find time for that. And if you do that, you will be ahead of 80% of PMs.
It doesn’t have to be the most recent post. Use our archive and skills assessments to look for inspiration.
As a premium subscriber, you can also DM me on Slack anytime and get personalized advice. The link to our Slack is here: Premium.
Finally, feel free to explore other newsletters and creators on Substack and beyond. I want you to get value from our learning community.
Even though I’m offering a 30-day money-back guarantee for all subscriptions, out of 1,480+ premium subscribers, I don’t recall a situation where someone requested it (please remind me in the comments if that happened).
Many of you regularly claim in paid subscriber notes that The Product Compass is the best source to learn and get tangible advice in an easy-to-consume format 🙏
What’s Next?
Current posts sum up to 8 hours and 50 minutes of reading. I will not only be publishing new advice but also prioritizing:
Guiding you better.
Reviewing and aligning the content.
Talking to premium subscribers even more often. I recently frequently sent my Calendly link on Slack, even though it’s not part of the offer.
Premium Subscribers can soon expect two new video courses (the names might differ):
Product Leadership: From Strategy to Objectives.
Product Innovation: The Initial Product Discovery.
🎁 At least one of them will be published by mid-August and another one by the end of September 2024. I’ll also be organizing live training sessions that premium subscribers can join instead of taking the course.
I also want to spotlight my premium subscribers by inviting/quoting you in my posts. You will soon receive the details.
I’d love to get your feedback: pawel@theproductcompass.tech or in the comments so I can learn and improve 🙏
Thanks for reading The Product Compass!
It’s fantastic to learn and grow together with you.
Have a fantastic rest of the week,
Paweł