The best career decision I ever made — Aha! PMs weigh in

"Would you do anything differently?" Someone recently asked me this about my career. This question might dredge up regrets or missed opportunities for some. So I like to consider the opposite — what I would not change. Flipping the response this way can reveal key moments that have helped to shape who and where you are.

You will likely not recognize your best decisions until long after. But reflecting on them can give clarity on where to go next.

More than 12,000 job postings. "Day-in-the-life" videos on YouTube and TikTok. People calling it a "dream job" — lately, it seems like product management is more aspirational than ever. A rewarding, well-paid role in tech with opportunities for growth, leadership, and cross-team influence is enticing to many. Of course I get the appeal. I have been a product manager for more than 20 years, and I love it.

If you are eager to get into product management yourself, you can find a lot of career resources out there — some good, some bad. (We have created hundreds of expert guides and a full learning path, so you know where to find some of the good stuff.) But I realize it is tough to take general best practices and try to contextualize them in your real workplace and life, especially when you are new to a role.

It helps to hear about individual experiences, too. People will tell you to reach out to your network for this. One problem with that: Not all of us have a bunch of product manager connections handy (and you know how cold messaging on LinkedIn goes).

I am lucky in that way. We have more than 40 current or former product managers at Aha! between our PM/UX and Customer Success teams. So, I set out to gather relatable advice to share.

I asked the team — what is the best career decision you ever made as a product manager?

To start, here is one of mine: Partway into my product career, I made a temporary switch to program management. The organization needed help with a customer onboarding program, so I volunteered. This put me in more direct contact with customers than ever before — gathering up their requests and pain points for the project. From then on, I wanted more! When I returned to being a product manager, I made sure to speak to more users, more frequently. This has continued to help me maintain a strong point of view on which features to prioritize for customer love.

Every product builder has a different story, shaped by unique experiences and decisions along the way. Now let's hear perspectives from the Aha! team:

I shifted my focus to what customers really need

"Early in my product management career, I focused almost solely on large projects — assuming that major overhauls would have the biggest impact. But I soon realized that this approach could pose risks and often missed the mark for customers. (It does not matter how much you deliver if it does not truly address their needs.)

The best decision I made was to invest in learning best practices for customer research. I began to prioritize smaller, iterative changes based on continuous insights. I ran experiments and gathered feedback in real time, ensuring every product update was backed by data rather than assumptions. This approach was not only more effective for our product's success, but it also helped me build much stronger connections with our customers." — Kelly Fogus, Product Success

I pivoted when it was worth it

"I initially joined Aha! on the Customer Success team — where prior product management experience is a requirement. I was intrigued by the idea of helping other product managers build better products. But I wondered if I would miss doing that PM work myself and find it difficult to step back into later.

It turned out to be a great choice. I learned a ton and really enjoyed my time in Customer Success. After all, I was still helping to solve product problems by working with product teams every day. And it was fascinating to improve the customer experience from a different perspective.

I eventually transitioned back into product management without issue. These days I am an internal product manager for the Aha! team. I think I am a better PM now having experienced a customer-facing role." — Todd Meyer, PM/UX

I got out of my element and in with engineering

"I decided to attend a Ruby on Rails conference in one of my first PM roles. I am not a technical product manager, so I was out of my comfort zone. But it ended up being valuable to gain a new perspective. For example, I attended a session on a search and analytics engine. This helped me in later discussions with the engineering team about how to optimize search in our own platform. I felt confident in my ability to identify the solution and its key benefits.

More importantly, though — this conference was an opportunity to meet up in-person with some of the developers at the company, which was mostly remote. I was able to form closer relationships with them. This made it easier to collaborate and speak the same language moving forward." — Leigh Villalovos, Product Success

I decided it was not too late

"The best decision I ever made in my product career was, simply, getting into product management. I spent years working in pretty much every other aspect of product development and organizational design as a coach and consultant. I helped struggling teams become industry leaders.

It was heartwarming to see them succeed. But the nature of consulting is to make a difference, then move on. Over time, I found that I craved the opportunity to manage a product firsthand — sticking with it through every challenge.

It took me a few decades to go for it. But when I finally decided to become a full-time product manager, it was easily the most rewarding thing I could have done. Now, I get to stay along for the highs and the lows as the products I work on grow." — Mike Lowery, PM/UX

Always curious, always bold, and never done learning — these things are true of any product manager, no matter what your career path looks like.

You will notice that some of these choices came early in our product management careers and some were much later. That is inspiring to me. I hope it is to you, too. Whether you are just starting out or building on years of experience, your best decision may still be ahead of you.

Product managers really, really love our team — find out why.