I recently did an interview with my friend, Silvia Li, for her web series “Three Success Secrets. I discussed my secrets to find success in completing a marathon. Yes, the 26.2 miles on your feet type of marathon.

The three secrets I shared in the interview were:

Set a Goal
Be Persistent and Patient
Find Help

I am about to launch a complete product re-design of our Denial Management offering that was a 3-year “marathon”. The interview made me take a step back and look at my recent experience. I realized the same secrets I shared also apply to Product Management. It is a challenging role that requires a strong set of soft skills to succeed.

These three secrets have helped me navigate the long road to build a product that many of our clients are really excited to get their hands on.

Set a Goal

When I prepared for my first marathon, I set a goal to finish the 26.2 mile journey. I didn’t focus on completing it in a specific time or running faster than someone else. My goal was focused on what I believed success would look like, and everything else was considered a distraction. I could have walked the entire race, and that would have been okay. That goal kept me motivated on those brutal 18 and 20 mile weekend runs while I was training.

In the same fashion, a good Product Manager needs to set goals for the product they are building. These product goals need to be based on the context of the product and the business. Examples can include launching by a specific deadline, meeting new revenue numbers, getting a specific amount of clicks onto a page, or reducing the time and effort to complete a task.

It can be really easy to get off track when building or updating a product. Product Managers constantly face the pressures of competing priorities, limited time and resources, and those distracting “fires”. Setting goals can give you something to point to every couple months to make sure the development efforts are on the right track. It is important to check in on these goals over the course of a project. I pick up my original Positioning Document every couple months to make sure my project is still going to meet the original goals I set. Doing this keeps me grounded during those challenging times.

I recommend using the SMART criteria to set goals. It will set you up for success to have objectively attainable, measurable goals to attain.

Finally, those check-ins may cause the product goals to change. That’s okay. Business priorities change; market needs shift. Set that new goal and re-focus on obtaining it.

Be Persistent and Patient

It’s a bit of an understatement to say training for a marathon is not easy. It is definitely a large physical undertaking. But I believe it is more of a mental exercise to spend 4–5 months ramping up mileage towards 26.2. It was not easy giving up hours of free time on my weekends, dealing with injuries that slowed me down and took my off my training plan, and changing my diet to support my nutritional needs. Believe me when I say there were days I wanted to sleep in, stay home, and watch TV. It takes a lot of persistence and patience to work through the challenges and stay committed to that goal.

That same persistence and patient is required of a good Product Manager to obtain those previously discussed goals. There are always going to be unexpected bumps on the road to building a product. How a Product Manager responds when things do not go according to plan may be more important than setting goals. Losing patience only gets you further off track and closer to failure.

The product redesign I have been working on had 2 or 3 false starts because we discovered the proposed architecture was not going to meet our business and design needs. I also saw this project get de-prioritized twice for other company initiatives. Half of the original development turned over during this period, which led the project shifting to a completely different offshore team.

That’s a lot of chaos for anyone! But I stayed with it. I kept pushing for the project to not be shelved. I would continue to share feedback from current clients that desperately wanted to see the denial management workflow that would increase their team’s efficiency. I had to argue we needed to move to new technology in order to stay competitive. I continued to remind leadership that we could move onto other projects, but my requirements and design concepts were ready to be picked up by development right now.

The point is: if you really believe in the product you are building, then a little backbone is needed to stay persistent and trust the process will get you to the finish line.

Find Help

Running is an individual sport. It was on me to set the training schedule, set aside the time, put the shoes on, and go out there and hit the pavement. However, to do something as intense as running a marathon, it is important to find support. I joined running clubs to run with like-minded people that were encouraging of my goals. I had the support of my friends and family, while saying I was crazy, still showed up on race day to cheer me on. And let’s not forget the volunteers handing me cups of water and sports drink along the way. I may have run the entire race, but I didn’t get to the finish line on my own.

This same secret applies to Product Management. I may be leading the efforts to build a successful product, but I rely on the following people:

Developers build the product
QA testers make sure a high quality product goes out the door
Support and Service personnel share client feedback
Tech writers provide the necessary user manuals
Marketing and Sales to spread the word and keep the product profitable

Without my teammates support and advice, I likely would have our clients at our office door with pitchforks and torches (or dropping their subscription).

A good Product Manager knows they are not an island and don’t have all the answers. I was willing to listen to the feedback on design concepts, requirements, and launch strategies. I really believe the collaboration helped me build the best possible product possible.

To bring the point home, I really like the way Patrick Neeman recently summed up the importance of collaboration in product.

Bonus tip: Celebrate your progress

On any long journey, like running a marathon or building a product, it is important to celebrate progress along the way. It is easy to focus on what hasn’t been accomplished and get discouraged. But when a small milestone is met, I take a moment to step back and take note of the successes to get to this point.

These milestones can be the first line of code being written, seeing the first product demo, or having that first successful user test of your design. Acknowledge the progress, thank your team for the hard work, and then celebrate however you see fit!

In Conclusion

The clients will ultimately let me know whether the product will be successful. However, I’m feeling confident my marathon running experience and living these secrets have helped me successfully navigate a challenging product development effort. Setting goals, staying persistent and patient, and finding help allowed me to get to the finish line.