What's happening: I spent a day in corporate PM training and accidentally learned more about life than products.
What you'll find here: 3 product management principles that apply to everything (your career, relationships, and yes, this newsletter).
The real talk: Sometimes the best insights come from the most unexpected places—like a conference room on a random Tuesday.
Hey {{first_name}},
Last week I spent a full day in a "Think like a PM" training ( PM = Product Manager). And honestly? I couldn't tell you much about what they do beyond, well, managing products 😅 So why was I—an HR professional who definitely does NOT build products—sitting in this training?
Welp, because I'm actually part of a product organization within HR. It's a new approach to how we do people work (especially in this new AI era), and truthfully, it's pretty exciting even if I'm still figuring out what it all means.
About halfway through the morning, during one of those awkward "stretch your legs" breaks where everyone jumps back into their email, I had this moment. I was reflecting on what we'd covered so far—concepts like letting go of attachment to your product, understanding the real problem before building solutions, starting with a minimum viable product—and it hit me.
Wait. This isn't just about products. This is about... everything.
Like, literally everything. Building a career. Growing relationships. And yes, actually launching products like this newsletter!
The facilitators actually said "progress over perfection" multiple times throughout the day, and I had to laugh. Here I am, writing a newsletter literally called Perfectamente in Progress, and I'm learning these lessons all over again but through a completely different lens.
So, here are the three things from that training that are living rent-free in my head:
🌻 3 PM Principles for Building Your Life (Not Just Products)You Can Try Today
1. Let go of attachment
There's this concept in product management about not getting too precious about your product because it will evolve as you learn what users actually need. You can't cling to your original vision if it's not serving the people you're trying to help.
Try this week: Write down one thought, bias, or "rule" you've been holding onto. Maybe it's about your career, a relationship, or even something creative you're working on. Ask yourself: Why is it important to let this go? How is it holding me back? What did it teach me that I can carry forward even as I release it?
2. Understand the actual problem
A huge part of product management is getting crystal clear on the problem you're solving. Otherwise, you waste time, effort, and money building something nobody asked for.
Try this week: Think about a situation you're currently dealing with—maybe it's stress at work, tension in a relationship, or feeling stuck on a goal. Pause and ask: Am I addressing the right problem, or is there something deeper I'm missing? Sometimes what we think is the issue is just a symptom of something else.
3. Start with MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
Don't wait until everything is perfect to start. Build the simplest version that solves the core problem, launch it, learn from it, and iterate. Overthinking kills more dreams than failure ever could.
Try this week: Pick one small thing you've been overthinking and just... do a messy version of it today. Send the imperfect email. Start the side project with stick figures instead of fancy graphics. Have the awkward conversation. Take imperfect action and see what you learn.
The big message of the training—the thing they kept coming back to—was that most of the journey is about being agile and learning how to shape things along the way. Even when a product "launches," it's not done. It evolves. It adapts. It changes to meet new needs.
Just like you. Just like me. We're constantly evolving and adapting to our environments, our situations, the social circles we navigate.
And that's exactly how I'm learning to approach life, too.
I don't know what version of myself I'll be six months from now. I don't know which dreams I'm holding onto that need to evolve, or which problems I think I'm solving that are actually just symptoms of something deeper. I don't know if the messy steps I'm taking right now will lead where I think they will.
But I'm practicing what they preached: take imperfect action, stay curious about what's actually needed, and let go of the versions of myself that no longer serve where I'm going.
We're all just shipping our own messy MVPs every single day. Trying things, learning, iterating. Being agile with who we're becoming—and that's more than enough.
Which of these three principles (let go, understand the problem, start with MVP) feels most relevant to where you are right now?
Reply and tell me—I'd love to hear what you're working through.
¿Qué dijo? / What did she say?
no Spanglish today (: