Product Manager always working 50+ hours? When I ran a product line with 5 products, 6-8 POs & Analysts, we rarely worked 40+, but there are short bursts.   When researching & launching a new product - whatever it takes.    But once that product is in market, confirmed stable, then it’s back to normal, scheduled enhancements.   At that point, the best ways I’ve found to manage the workday is:   1. Meetings. Choose how often you REALLY need to attend each recurring meeting. (Inform the organizer)   2. User Interviews. Schedule them all in one week, quarterly. This makes your schedule of setting them, via Salespeople, and reporting on the outcome, appear much more timely and organized to your stakeholders.   3. Work ahead-a little bit. If your team is working in sprints, you COULD release every 2 weeks (if you want). So prioritize your pain point-driven features and get those top 8-12 requirements/story sets all written in advance. Then plug them into sprints around your strategic features and the critical tech work that have more defined delivery dates.   These are not the ONLY ways to make your life more predictable, and your working hours more “normal” but they massively help.

5 ways to tell if you're a Product Manager (PM) or Product Owner (PO) 1. PMs create and have the power to change the roadmap POs execute a set project plan 2. PMs make prioritization decisions and explain their rationale POs create lists of options and seek guidance from a product leader and other stakeholders to make prioritization decisions 3. PMs talk with customers regularly and understand their problems POs rely on consultant readouts and research reports for insights 4. PMs manage a product backlog that consists of the customer outcomes defined in the roadmap POs manage a sprint backlog that consists of technical tasks engineers complete 5. A PM is a chicken (involved in development) A PO is a pig (committed to development) (The last one is an agile reference. Doesn't mean it's not true though)

I'm loving this debate between John Cutler and Ed Biden - both are thinkers and leaders I deeply admire. Zero-interest PMs were hired by zero-interest Product Leaders, who were probably hired by zero-interest CEOs. It's turtling all the way up 🐢 Are they all incompetent? Nah, they are just a product of the environment. It would've been foolish to not take advantage of the zero-interest capital. The key question is whether these people - at all levels from the CEO to the PMs - are capable of adapting to the current environment where profit margin and sustainability are key. Everyone needs to 'sober up' after years of being drunk and high with cash. Zero-interest leaders focus on acquisition at all costs. Sober leaders focus on bringing solid value that leads to retention and sustainable growth. Zero-interest leaders double, triple, even quadruple the size of their team. Sober leaders realize that team size != productivity, that spending hours in alignment meetings for a small feature isn't any fun. Running lean is the way forward. Zero-interest leaders build or even acquire aggressively, trying to capture as much market as possible. Sober leaders are thoughtful in choosing just 1 or 2 things to do. Zero-interest leaders care about framework and rules "This is the only correct way to do product." Sober leaders care about results, knowing that those frameworks and rules are merely vehicles to achieve results. Ultimately, sober leaders are accountable for business performance, not just acting like consultants in suits talking big words and making pretty slides. It's not easy to sober up - but it's adapt or die.

Can a Product Manager own the P&L for a product if the teams building and supporting the product don’t report to the #ProductManager? You must set people up for success if you want them to succeed. Giving a product manager the responsibility of profit and loss over a product without authority over how it is built and maintained is the opposite of setting them up for success. I had a conversation with Ruby Raley about this yesterday. I shared a story about a company I know where the CTO was charged with building a new product. He outsourced it to an IT vendor. They got it built in about 9 months. It was sold to a handful of clients. The clients started using it. The bill arrived from the cloud hosting service and it was $1.2M for the month‼️ The company was going to lose over $1M a month just to run the product. 👆🏻This is what happens when goals and incentives are misaligned and constraints are not communicated. The CTO was not involved in pricing; nor had he considered the cost of the architectural decisions made by the outsource team. I rarely see the engineering organization report into the Head of Product. And even more rarely are product managers setting pricing for the products they manage, or determining the size and quality of their design and development teams. Honestly, I am on the fence about this topic. I see so many product managers struggling with the demands of doing all the things they need to do to manage their products. Many PMs only have 3-5 years of business experience. Do they have the time, skills, training, and aptitude for managing a P&L too? Does the reporting structure support it? Will the executive team support it? I would love to hear from product managers. Do you manage your product’s #ProfitAndLoss? Do you want to?

It’s just easier to deflect and let “sh*t roll down hill”. John Cutler is right. More engaged IT team members aren’t enough to overcome systemic #culture and leadership issues. “Someone hired those PMs. Someone funded those companies. Someone set expectations for those PMs. A leader benefitted (or didn't from their work). Someone had the job to mentor those PMs, and share business context and the strategy (assuming one even existed).” #itleadership #projectleadership #projectmanagement #productleadership #productmanagement.

Day plan of a Product Manager 🥇 1. Connecting and Communicating - Product team to review and plan the day - Support team to collect feedbacks - Marketing team with GTM - Engineering team to review status - Sales team to update selling features and roadmap 2. Learning and Analysing - Review product sale, marketing and revenue - Review your product backlog, Priorities - Review KPIs - Learn market trends, competitors and technologies. - Conduct customer Surveys 3. Deciding and Documenting - Record take aways from meetings - Record customer feedback - Improve Product road map, backlogs with new features - Write blogs, promotions, problem statements, hypothesis. ⚠️ If you fail to plan, you planned to fail..

In an age of fast evolving customer expectations, the journey from product roadmap to roll out needs to be seamless. That means you need a hero to bring people into alignment, own the end-to-end process and understand what customers want. Sounds like a job for a dynamic digital product manager! 🦸🏽♀️🦸🏼♂️ Check out our blog, “Three reasons to invest in Digital Product Management”, for a rundown of why you need to be investing in this skillset for your team. https://lnkd.in/eFVUhxRT

At a point I was confused about the role of a product manager and advertiser, but now I gat the difference. 1. A product manager focused on the overall success and development of the product including defining what the product is and how it should evolve. while an advertiser focus on promoting the product and driving customer engagement and sales through marketing efforts. 2. We( product managers) work on the product entire life cycle, from conception to discontinuation. while advertiser are involved primarily in the promotion stage, though they MAY also influence product messaging and branding. 3. We interact intensively with engineering, design, and other operational teams while advertisers work closely with creative media and marketing team. BOTH ROLES ARE CRUCIAL FOR A PRODUCTS SUCCESS, BUT OPERATES IN DIFFERENT STAGES AND AREAS OF THE PRODUCT JOURNEY.

When Life gives you a Free Coffee.... ☕✨ Today started off a bit chaotic. I forgot both my card and cash at home and found myself at the university cafe, desperately in need of my daily caffeine fix. Standing there, explaining my predicament, I couldn't help but feel a bit like a product facing unexpected challenges. The cafe guy, with a smile, handed me a cup of coffee and said, "Don't worry about it. This one's on the house." His simple gesture reminded me of the power of empathy and understanding in product management. Here's how this little incident ties into the key aspects of product management: 1.⁠ ⁠User-Centric Approach: Just like the barista understood my immediate need and provided a solution, we must always prioritize our users' needs and create solutions that resonate with them. 2.⁠ ⁠Agility and Adaptability: Sometimes, things don't go as planned. In this field, we must be agile, ready to pivot, and find quick solutions to keep our users satisfied. 3.⁠ ⁠Building Relationships: The cafe guy’s kind gesture built a relationship and trust. Similarly, as PMs, building strong relationships with our stakeholders and users is vital for long-term success. 4.⁠ ⁠Delighting the User: That free coffee didn’t just meet my need; it delighted me and turned my day around. Our goal should always be to exceed expectations and bring joy to our users. This experience was a great reminder that small acts of kindness can have a big impact. Just as the barista turned my day around with a simple gesture, we too can make a difference in our users' lives with thoughtful, user-centric product management. Ever had a random act of kindness turn your day around? Drop your story in the comments! #Coffee #ProductManagement #LifeLessons #UTAustin #Longhorn #PM

In this interesting read (we missed in August) Jaskaran Sachdeva (over a decade of experience in marketplace product management, including Uber Fleet), discusses the unique challenges and strategies of PM in early-stage marketplace development emphasizing that marketplace product management, connecting demand and supply, requires a distinct approach, different from traditional product management. Key factors, he argues, for the success of a newly launched marketplace include building liquidity, kickstarting network effects, and ensuring sustainable unit economics. Overall, the role of a product manager in this phase is likened to walking a tightrope, requiring a balance between various factors for successful marketplace management. It is a nice practical read. #MARKETPLACES