How to be Opinionated at Work

In many meetings at work, I’m the youngest person in the room with the least amount of experience. I’ll often be in discussions with senior colleagues who have been around for much longer than I have. They’ve got experience, and they’ve got opinions. 

It’s intimidating sometimes. I feel like I’m not nearly as opinionated as my colleagues, and I often defer to their opinions.

Being opinionated comes with time. But there’s plenty you can do to expedite that process.  

Here are a few tips:

1. Talk to lots of customers. Being the voice of the customer is one of the most important parts of a product manager’s role. Conduct customer interviews, usability tests, go to conferences, and visit them where they work. 

2. Dive into the data. Product metrics show the reality of a customer’s actions. They tell you if they are using your product and what actions they are performing. 

3. Understand the technical details. Understanding how the product works underneath the hood helps with technical sizing, architectural decisions, and help better communicate to other colleagues and customers.

4. Understand the competition. Staying on top of the competition helps you build and position your product in a way that wins in the market.