How to Prioritize What to Learn Next: A Guide for Product Leaders

In the fast-paced world of product management, product marketing, and leadership, continuous learning is not just beneficial—it’s essential. However, with an overwhelming amount of information, courses, tools, and skills to acquire, knowing how to prioritize what to learn next can be challenging. This guide is designed specifically for product leaders, managers, and marketers across Europe who are part of the ProductMasters.io community, helping you make strategic learning decisions that maximize your growth and impact.

Why Prioritizing Learning Matters for Product Leaders

Product professionals operate at the intersection of technology, business, and customer experience. The landscape is constantly evolving, with new methodologies, frameworks, tools, and market trends emerging regularly. Prioritizing learning helps you:

Stay Relevant: Keep up with industry trends and best practices.
Boost Efficiency: Learn skills that improve your day-to-day performance.
Drive Innovation: Equip yourself with knowledge to create better products.
Advance Your Career: Position yourself for leadership roles and new opportunities.

Step 1: Assess Your Current Skills and Knowledge Gaps

Before deciding what to learn next, conduct a thorough self-assessment. Identify areas where you excel and areas requiring improvement. Consider feedback from peers, mentors, and your team to get a 360-degree view.

Make a list of core competencies relevant to your product role.
Highlight skills that impact your current projects.
Note emerging skills in product management and marketing that you haven’t explored yet.

Tools to Help You Assess Skills

Skills matrix templates tailored for product managers.
Online quizzes and assessments from credible product management platforms.
Feedback apps and 1:1 review sessions with your team.

Step 2: Align Learning Goals With Your Career and Company Objectives

Learning is most effective when aligned with your professional goals and your organization’s direction. Consider the following:

Short-term priorities: What skills can help you solve pressing challenges in your current role?
Long-term aspirations: What competencies do you need to reach your next career milestone?
Company vision: What strategic goals does your company have that you can support through learning?

Aligning your learning path with these factors ensures that your efforts deliver tangible value both personally and organizationally.

Step 3: Research and Curate Learning Resources

With priorities defined, gather high-quality resources that fit your learning style and schedule. Here are some resource types product leaders often find valuable:

Online courses: Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning offer specialized product management and marketing courses.
Books and eBooks: Classics like “Inspired” by Marty Cagan or “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore.
Podcasts and Webinars: Stay updated with insights from industry experts.
Communities and Forums: Engage with peers on ProductMasters.io, Product School Slack channels, or Reddit.

Step 4: Prioritize Based on Impact and Effort

Not all learning opportunities are created equal. To maximize your growth, prioritize topics and skills based on their potential impact and the effort required to learn them.

High impact, low effort: These are “quick wins” you should focus on immediately.
High impact, high effort: Plan these for longer-term development.
Low impact, low effort: Good for downtime or supplementary learning.
Low impact, high effort: Usually deprioritize unless they align strongly with future goals.

Using a simple impact-effort matrix can help visualize and decide your learning priorities effectively.

Step 5: Create a Learning Roadmap and Set SMART Goals

Once you know what to learn, organize your learning journey with a roadmap that includes specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.

Break down topics into manageable chunks.
Schedule regular learning sessions—consistency is key.
Include checkpoints to review progress and adjust as needed.

Step 6: Apply and Share Your Knowledge

The best way to solidify learning is to apply it in your work and share insights with your community. This approach benefits you and strengthens the ProductMasters.io network.

Implement new frameworks or tools in your product processes.
Lead knowledge-sharing sessions or workshops.
Contribute to discussions and forums with your learnings.

Bonus Tips for Effective Learning Prioritization

Stay Flexible: Adapt your priorities based on shifting business needs or emerging trends.
Leverage Peer Learning: Collaborate with colleagues to learn faster and gain diverse perspectives.
Use Technology: Employ apps and tools to track your learning progress.
Maintain Balance: Avoid burnout by balancing learning with rest and other responsibilities.

Conclusion

Prioritizing what to learn next as a product leader is a strategic process that blends self-awareness, goal alignment, resource curation, and disciplined execution. By following these steps, you’ll ensure your learning journey is impactful and aligned with both your personal growth and your company’s success.

Join the ProductMasters.io community to connect with fellow product managers and leaders across Europe, share your learning experiences, and stay ahead in the dynamic world of product management and marketing.

Happy learning! 🚀📚