ambivalents

Getting burned out by the stakeholder management grind. Meetings on meetings with little tangible value I can point to. Don't get me wrong, my team produces incredible work and I'm proud to be a part of it. But I miss building, creating, imagining. My favorite part of my job now is the occasional chance I get to jump into Figma and wireframe my features.

Anyone make this transition? I've been a PM for 7 years. I have 2 years web developer experience before that. I feel like this could actually give me an edge as a designer. I love tech, I love making software, I don't want lose my spark for it which I see happening with another year or two of PMing.

A year ago, someone posted an Ask HN about spiritual practices[0]. It is an understatement to say that some of your answers in that thread changed my life.

I'd like to revisit this topic again. HN, what does your spiritual life look like? And how has this practice changed your life?

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29700445

I’ve encountered a specific problem in a market (product managers at startups and SMBs) that hasn’t been sufficiently solved. I have validated some demand for it, as well as basic requirements, although nothing formally documented.

Right now I just have pages and pages of notes (competitor research, ideas, prospective user feedback, etc.). I don’t have any formal specs written.

Goal: build a functional prototype and get my first actual users.

I’m a product manager, so while I can fumble my way around a command line, I don’t think I myself can build this thing. There are lots of options — no code, prototype in InVision, hire a freelancer, approach a trusted engineer colleague who could maybe moonlight with me for pay.

What’s my next step for getting this built? Assuming I have basically zero funds and will be bootstrapping it myself.

Few other things to note: app will leverage several APIs, require basic auth, a few integrations (though doesn’t have to be MVP).

I have the confidence and some validation, but now what?