New to product: Practise · Core
Choose a small, real practice project
The best proof that you can do the job is to do part of it. Pick a small, real problem you can study with real people, and set a clear scope so that you finish.
About 2-4 hoursEvergreenLast reviewed 9 November 2026
Who this applies to
- Skills it builds
- Discovery and researchPrioritisation and roadmapping
- PM types
- All
- Product types
- All
- Starting points
- Exploring product management
- Ways of working
- All
- Experience
- Beginner (under 1 year)
- Size of organisation
- All
Steps
- List problems you or people around you have: a local club's sign-up process, a charity's website, a tool you use at work (using public information only) or a feature in an app you use.
- Choose one where you can reach at least five real users within a couple of weeks, and where the problem is real, not invented.
- If the project touches your work, check that you will not use anything confidential, and do not name colleagues or clients. If in doubt, choose something outside work.
- Write a one-paragraph brief: who has the problem, what you think it is, what you will produce (for example five interviews, a one-page brief, a ranked list of ideas and a measure of success) and the date you will finish.
- Time-box it to four to six weeks at a few hours a week. A smaller project that you finish beats a big one you drop.
- Tell one person what you are doing and ask them to check in on you.
Tool examples
- Notion
- Keep the brief, the timeline and a list of participants on one page.
Definition of done
- A one-paragraph brief with scope and an end date
- Five possible participants identified
- A person who will check in on your progress
Common pitfalls
- Choosing a huge product you can't learn anything real about
- Using confidential work material
- Making up users instead of finding them