7 Tips To Make The Most Out Of Your Product Management Internship
How to have a successful virtual product management internship
With all of us moving virtual, our regular workdays have taken a substantial hit. Folks are looking to the strength of their workplace connections made before the quarantine to help navigate collaboration and working together in this new world. Coming cold into a new work environment can be daunting, especially as part of an internship. And as if that wasn’t enough, if you are interning as a product manager, the next 12 weeks can look scary.
As a product manager, where one of the most significant characteristics of the role is working with other cross-functional teams, not being able to meet your co-workers physically could cause anxiety about your internship.
But don’t worry. The fact that you have chosen a product management internship means you already know that being adaptable is a big part of the role. Below are some tips that can prepare you for the next few months and help you get the most out of your product management internship.
1. Spend some time on virtual meet and greets
Take some of the early days in your internship to meet with other team members and introduce yourself. Unfortunately, you don’t have the convenience of a breakout area or a cafeteria to help provide some quick ice breakers to introduce yourself to your colleagues, but don’t let that deter you. Your colleagues likely know that you are joining as an intern. Use that to schedule quick introductions with the people you are going to be working with. Get to know where they fit in the grand scheme of things concerning the product you will be working on. Spend some time at the start to develop those relationships before the hectic work meetings kick in.
2. Ask ‘why’
As you start setting up meetings with your stakeholders around your project, make sure to ask them about their ‘why.’ You would have been given some direction on potential projects for you to pick up during the internship, but don’t focus on getting to the solution from week 1. Take time to understand what is driving that problem statement. Why are different stakeholders interested in solving that particular problem? And if you have been given some guidance on the ‘how,’ then feel free to question that as well. This could be tough when jumping into a pre-existing project, but even then, trying to get to know the ‘why’ can help inform your strategy of how you want to approach your deliverables.
This post was originally published on Medium in June 2020. Read more below.