5 More Product Management Lessons from Learning to Fly
I’m an unabashed aviation geek and analogy addict.
After decades of “life getting in the way” I finally completed flight training this year, passing my FAA checkride in February 2020(!) I am a private pilot!
Flight training is an intensive, holistic exercise in learning a set of skills that are nothing like anything you’ve done before based completely on attention to detail and learning from failure.
Just like Product Management!
Since publishing my original article 7 Product Management Lessons from Learning to Fly, I managed to get a PM job at Google and ship a redesign of an internal tool with one of the greatest engineering teams at the company. While we were in design of the MVP, I was furiously working towards my FAA checkride while—unbeknown to us—hurtling towards the global pandemic of Covid-19.
Here are 5 more product management lessons I learned while preparing for my checkride.
1. Failure is a Gift
Per U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics data from 2017, one out of three candidates fail their first FAA checkride when administered by a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE).
I was one of the lucky ones. Why do I count myself lucky? Failing a checkride is potentially embarrassing, especially when explaining the situation to laypersons.
But a funny thing happens when you explain a busted checkride to a pilot. They open up and tell you about their own failures, perhaps even their own busted checkride or a flying fail and what they learned from it.
In my case, I failed to complete a checklist during a simulated engine-out emergency. This was initially embarrassing to me as it’s one of the perfunctory “gimme” items on the practical test: Just perform the memory items rapidly, then trim for best glide and read/do the appropriate checklist.
I shared my experience with other pilots and several commented that they were not well versed with emergency procedures and committed to re-study their operating handbooks and checklists. My failure and our thoughtful discussion created 5 safer pilots.
Lesson: First, if your product and/or team hasn’t failed recently, you may not be attempting anything remarkable. When you do take on something remarkable, and—when you fail—learn from it. It can provide you with additional perspective and make you a better [fill in the blank]
2. Don’t Fixate
This one is embarrassing. But a great lesson.
Returning home from Santa Barbara on my long solo cross country, I took on fuel and set off in the 90 degree summer heat inland towards my 2nd required stop at Brackett Field in La Verne, CA.
Everything was going smoothly. I had a good scan going, (inside, outside, instruments), my engine was running cool, I had a good mental picture of the traffic around me, etc. I even started sightseeing, taking photos of the Rose Bowl, and identified Santa Anita racetrack just ahead when I noticed something.
My right wing fuel gauge was bouncing from full to half full. The left gauge was steady as a rock. My mind raced: “Am I absolutely sure that I replaced the fuel cap on the right wing?” “Is fuel being siphoned out of the tank via the slipstream?”
I stared at the fuel gauges. Soon, the right gauge oscillated between half and empty. Wildly, as if I were rocking the plane. The left gauge was almost fixed. No movement and reading just as expected, nearly full.
“What’s my fuel situation?” “Hoo-boy is the right tank emptying itself?” I assured myself with some quick arithmetic that even a half fuel load was way more than sufficient to land at Brackett.
My mind raced again “But, will I have an asymmetric weight distribution when I’m landing at Brackett? What will that feel like?”
Of course, both of my fuel caps were on tight. I have a checklist item and physical “tap” I do to make sure of that every time I do the walkaround.
The real problem presented itself when SoCal Approach asked me what the heck I was doing at 5,500’ and nearly on top of my destination. Oops. I missed my top of descent because I was fixating on my fuel gauges and a potential problem. Even if the problem was real, I should have divided my attention with flying the airplane, looking out the window, revising my plan and thus avoiding creating the mild commotion below me. My careless airspace entry required the SoCal controller to adjust her plan and increased her workload so I could get down to the airport.
Lesson: Most of your product metrics are important, but before leaping to action when one of them starts flashing red, ask yourself: Am I fixating? What larger issues could I be missing if I devote my attention to this one metric?
3. Planning > The Plan
Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said that his experience as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the Second World War taught him that “plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
This sounds contradictory: if plans are worthless, why bother with planning at all? Eisenhower’s observation has a meaning: While directly following the original plan in constantly changing circumstances is often not a good idea, the existence of a pre-computed original plan enables us to produce an almost-optimal strategy—a strategy that would have been computationally difficult to produce on a short notice without the pre-existing plan.
This one is a continuation of my previous lesson. As a result of arriving at Brackett airport “high and fast” with my planned top of descent miles behind me, I presented an unanticipated challenge for the controller of the airspace I was in. We sorted it out, and I was able to rapidly comply with directions with confidence because prior to my arrival, I planned for a northern entrance to right traffic, but also planned a southerly pattern entry “just in case.”
Although I created extra workload for the controller working that sector, we sorted it out because we were both familiar with the area and local procedures. It could have been stressful—and thus add additional risk—had I blundered into this situation with no “Plan B” or “C.”
Lesson: Think about your releases and intended outcomes. Now spend some time reviewing the landscape of your stakeholders, outside dependencies, your user community, their top user issues, etc. and determine if your next launch can be made even smoother by identifying and mitigating potential bumps while you’re still writing the launch comms and thank you notes (you do that before the launch, right??)
4. Learn to Say “No”
Admittedly not all PM’s need this lesson.
Continuing that anecdote upon landing at Brackett, the tower controller was sorting out traffic, probably in part due to my mess, and asked me if I was able to do a “short approach.”
This is a simple, fun maneuver where you cut the throttle abeam the numbers and just glide on down to the runway in a descending turn. I basically got a freebie: A chance to expedite my landing to help the tower sequence traffic efficiently.
I realized I was a little shaken from my fixation on the gauges and subsequent missed procedure, and after taking stock of my situation I realized I was also dehydrated: Not 100% on the IMSAFE checklist. As I didn’t perform my pre-landing checklist yet, I wasn’t 100% sure my plane was configured properly for landing either. Although this request would save us all some time, I declined with a simple reply: “Unable.”
The consequences of my reply was: Nothing. No problemo. Brackett Tower switched my assigned runway for instructed another plane on final to scoot in before me on the parallel and everything worked out.
Per FAR 91.3 (a) “The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.”
That’s it! 23 words and a magic word: If you’re ever uncomfortable with an instruction from a controlling authority, you may reject it with a simple response: “Unable”
Lesson: As the PM, you arguably are the ultimate authority on a feature in the context of the safety and security of your product and user base. There is no Federal Aviation Regulation 91.3 (a) for PMs, yet, so it’s best to stick to your superior negotiation skills on that one.
5. Remember to have fun!
On my first lesson, back when I was still nervous and had a death-grip on the yoke I remember we hit bumpy air, which threw me up out of my seat and almost into the ceiling, knocking my headset a little askew. That jarring experience surprised me.
“Yah-hoo!” came my instructor’s voice in my headset, efficiently announcing that the rough air was transient and benign. I learned so much from that reaction: Some things are out of your control, just roll with it.
Lesson 5. The Universal Lesson: We choose to do difficult, impactful things. Sometimes the work is impeded by obstacles. Work with your team to manage what you can so that the odds are in your favor. When the work is done, thank each other and remember the good stuff.
And when the turbulence hits, say “yah-hoo!”