How do I become a better PM as an engineer?

Question

Context - I've been a software engineer for ~5 years now and just joined a seed-stage startup as a founding engineer. Of course, founding engineer != PM, but we don't have a PM and I learned (the hard way) recently that I'm not great at putting the product hat on. How do I get better at understanding the needs of my users, writing PRDs and all the other work that goes into being a good PM at an early-stage company? Article/book recommendations, general advice, mindset shifts and so on would be greatly appreciated!

philip1209 · Accepted Answer

1. Practice technical writing. Information hierarchy, flowcharts, tables.
2. Funnel analysis and its practical implications.
3. Building and launching a side project, and having to do things like write copy for a landing page or deal with highly ambiguous choices.
4. Understanding the basics of product-led growth versus enterprise sales, and getting deep on one.