I’m going to show you how to transform setbacks into fuel for your product career.
Every Product Manager faces setbacks. It’s not a question of if, but when.
You juggle priorities, fight fires, navigate roadblocks, and sometimes…well, things fall apart. A product launch flops. A key partnership crumbles.
It’s a setback, a gut punch that can leave you feeling deflated.
And it sucks.
It’s at this point you’ll hear the cliche – “Failure is a learning opportunity!”.
It’s well-meaning advice. The problem? Most PMs struggle to translate that advice into action.
How exactly do you extract meaningful lessons from the wreckage?
The Common Approach Isn’t Good Enough
Let’s be honest – many Product Managers don’t stop to reflect on setbacks. They just don’t have the time.
But it’s a huge missed opportunity. Setbacks are a chance to learn, grow, and come back stronger than ever.
Learning how to turn setbacks into successes is a stepping stone from Product Manager to Product Leader.
Those Product Managers that do analyze failures, typically use a post-mortem. They block time for the entire team to participate. They write up a big report afterwards, summarizing findings and action items.
Post-mortems are great. But they are a heavyweight process. Often, only the big setbacks get attention. Insights that might be gleaned from smaller setbacks are lost, and add up over time to another significant missed opportunity.
Fortunately, there is a lightweight way to analyze setbacks that also encourages you to look at failures from different perspectives.
A Better Way to Extract Value from Setbacks
The simple method to learn from your setbacks is called the GOAL method.
“GOAL” is an acronym:
- Growth – what’s one step forward I took?
- Opportunity – what’s one opportunity that opened up?
- Awareness – what’s one epiphany I had?
- Learning – what’s one new strategy I developed?
Let’s dive into each of these.
Growth – Identify a Small Step Forward
Let’s face it, setbacks rarely mean everything falls apart. Even in failure, there’s usually a small victory – a step towards the big win – you might be overlooking.
You may have tested a critical assumption, overcome a significant obstacle, or built a stronger team dynamic.
A personal example: I once led the Google Messages team on a mission to get all US mobile carriers to agree to a common messaging app for Android. We spent a year negotiating a joint agreement with the top 3 US carriers, but the deal fell through. It was a huge setback.
But our efforts had warmed the carriers up to the idea. Later, we were able to sign agreements with each carrier individually, ultimately achieving our goal of a unified messaging experience.
Opportunity – See the New Door that Opened
When one door closes, another opens.
Setbacks can reveal hidden opportunities. Maybe your failed approach unlocked new ideas, uncovered a new market need, or freed you to explore an alternative path with laser focus.
A personal example: I once led the API ecosystem development at Bazaarvoice. I pushed hard for a vendor solution for our API infrastructure, given time-to-market concerns. But our internal engineering team had a different vision – building it themselves. After a vigorous debate, we ended up going the in-house route.
The unexpected benefit? The engineering team was now highly motivated to prove it was the right decision. We ultimately built and launched an MVP much faster than the vendor integration would have taken.
Awareness – Gain New Insights
Setbacks often bring clarity.
They can grant you a unique perspective. They can illuminate blind spots and offer valuable insights.
You might gain a deeper understanding of what went wrong, or discover assumptions that need revisiting. This newfound awareness can be the key to success next time around.
A personal example: Early in my career I moved across the country to join a startup with a seemingly great vision. But within weeks, I realized the culture was a nightmare. Micromanagement, distrust – it was the opposite of empowering. I left after a few months.
Leaving was a setback, but it gave me a powerful awareness of how crucial company culture is to team success. In my next role, I prioritized building a great culture. My team thrived, and my PM career took off.
Learning – Develop New Strategies
Every setback offers a chance to learn and adapt.
For example, setbacks are crash courses in what doesn’t work. Don’t waste that knowledge! Use what you learn to approach the next challenge with a newfound advantage.
Recovering from a setback may also push you to learn new skills, or develop new strategies, to overcome similar challenges in the future.
A personal example: My first job out of college was at a startup, during the peak of the dot-com boom in Silicon Valley. I loved the company, and my work. A year later, the market crashed and I lost my job. It felt awful.
Getting laid off was rough, but it taught me a valuable skill: how to network. I made a conscious effort to stay connected with former colleagues, and years later, those connections led me to opportunities at Yahoo and Google.
Take Action Today
The GOAL method is a simple yet powerful tool to reframe setbacks and unlock their hidden potential.
Think of a recent setback, big or small. Take five minutes to reflect on it using the GOAL framework.
Build this habit, and you’ll master the art of turning a setback into a comeback.
