Regression Test Yourself
During the last few days of 2019 I remember telling my two daughters how wonderful 2020 was going to be. I had three concerts to attend, two are living legends I may never get the chance to see again. I had a trip to New York City for the Scrum Gathering planned for work which happened to be the week of my birthday. I also planned a college graduation and sweet 16 birthday trip to Scotland with my girls. I even remember saying, “I have something planned every month until August!” 2020 was going to be my year.
As it turns out, 2020 has become something no one could have predicted. Certainly not me. Concerts have been postponed and trips have been cancelled. As my plans were crumbling before my eyes, I went back to the goals I had set for 2020 and tried to find traction with them. It was my attempt to hold on to something I had planned and see it through to resolution. I had set a goal for a promotion within Q1 of 2020. All my energy and focus would be spent on this goal. I blocked out what I was missing out on and thought about what I could achieve instead.
By mid-March the country started shutting down and we were sent to our home offices for the foreseeable future. Change was upon the world. Change was upon me. The promotion came nearly at the same time that I got a new boss. My first professional goal of the year had been achieved. My next step needed to be engaging with my new boss. I had only a few short conversations with her in person and now I was working for her but relegated to Zoom meetings and emails. This was my new challenge. Getting to know this person virtually and grow into my new advanced product role.
In true form, I jumped into my new Product Manager role with both feet. Right into the deep end. Hour long one-on-ones with my new boss where we discussed going deeper into the product role left me with lists of old things to brush up on and new things to experiment with. Personas, roadmaps, opportunity mapping, user story mapping, empathy mapping and budgeting and if that wasn’t enough – a new application to learn! It was amazing! Every conversation with my new boss left me inspired. Week after week a new idea or suggestion to try. I was working way more hours at home than I was able to when I was driving to the office. It was pure delight. I was learning and growing and getting to know my new boss who quickly turned into a new mentor. A product-centered mentor. While the world seemed to be falling apart around me, I was able to put aside the disappointment of what was to be and wrap my arms around what was. It seems I was not alone either. (This article touches on this same issue.)
Then something happened. It shouldn’t have been a surprise really. I was going 100 mph for 2.5 months. Some could say it was bound to happen. I started to notice, along with my team, my Product Management responsibilities were starting to slip. Not in a big way. I was still doing the job of maintaining the backlog, managing stakeholders, being available to my team, but little thing were getting by me. When a main stakeholder pointed out a few of my misses, I took it hard. I set out to look inward to figure out the disconnect.
Upon careful consideration and considerable soul searching, I came up with the answer to the disconnect. During my desire to learn and grow, I had let up on my grip on the basic product manager responsibilities. These being ones I had learned and honed over the past 5 years in favor of the shiny new ones. This realization led me to a decision to pause. Yes, pause. I paused my forward momentum toward being the single best Product Manager and took a breath. I had realized it was time to return home. Return to the role I learned first. The role that was the foundation for my journey into product needed more respect than being dropped at the first sign of something more advanced and more challenging.
I have since gone back to my roots and put my focus back on the three products I manage. I went back to the backlog. I went back to the refinements and the Sprint planning with new eyes and a refreshed mind. Making this deliberate decision did several things for me.
1. Boosted my confidence
Going back to what started it all was like riding a bike. I didn’t forget how to do these basic responsibilities – I didn’t invest the time in them. Going back to them built up my confidence. Learning something new is hard. It shakes your ego to the core. Sometimes we need to go back to what we know to gain the confidence to progress to what we don’t.
2. Helped me see my products in a different light
Moving back to the basics doesn’t erase my learning, it just pauses that part for a bit. All that I learned was still there but now I could utilize what I learned with what I already had. I created road maps for all three products. I paused enhancing it, but now could use it to show the team where we were going. I paused creating new personas, but now could use them when writing new user stories. I paused building out the customer journey map, but I can use it to plan budgets.
3. Gave me a much-needed break
There is nothing wrong with jumping into a new role, a new product, a new anything with both feet. But as with most things in life – moderation is key. I was on the brink of burn out before I put the brakes on. Getting back to the basics has helped me recharge and rebuild.
Along the way, as I spent time thinking all of this through, I came up with this analogy: The purpose of regression testing is to confirm that a new code change has not adversely affected existing features. Well, I believe we need to regression test ourselves. We need to be sure once we have new knowledge (a feature) we need to go back and see how it integrates with our existing knowledge (code base). If we move too fast and forget to regression test ourselves, we may find that we don’t perform in the same way. This is what happened to me. I never went back to integrate my new knowledge. I kept moving forward and I wasn’t performing the same way.
The bottom line is this, take time to learn new things and grow. But also, be ok with pushing a pause button. Go back to the basics, the foundation of your knowledge and spend time integrating the new with old. In time you will see what you are building is far stronger than anticipated.
Tricia Barnes