Four Ways to Become a Calm Product Manager
What’s an average day look like for a Product Manager? The answer might include phrases like hectic, putting out fires, running around with my head cut off, and generally other answers that might remind you of this:
It’s true that life as a Product Manager can be a bit crazy at times. It’s a hard job. It combines the always-on, frantic pace of modern tech work with an inevitable dose of chaos almost every single day. This reality can set us up for failure in the most important parts of the role.
Why Being Calm Matters
We all know a PM who wears their stress and full calendars as a badge of honor. I’m just so busy these days.
They just think this is how it is. Sometimes their managers will tell them, yeah this is how the PM job is. Look at my calendar, It’s even worse! And then there is this little bit of comparison as well, which is like, oh, whose calendar is worse. And like, that person is more of a PM, right? — Shreyas Doshi on Filled calendars, reactivity, and self-identity,
We have the opportunity to deliver so much value as PMs. We can know the customers deeply, identify new business lines, make ruthless prioritization decisions, and lead teams to big outcomes.
But to do all that, we have to have deep expertise in our domains, markets, and customers — and make time for deep thinking. It’s far too easy to let the constant buzzsaw of everyday to-do lists get in the way of being an effective Product Manager.
And it’s easy to feel like deep work is reserved for our friends in engineering or design. But you have to be more intentional about the way you work as a Product Manager. Here are four ways I’ve found to be helpful in my own journey.
1. Treat Your Calendar like a Garden.
Your time as a Product Manager is one of your most valuable assets. Treat it that way. Just as a gardener prunes their garden to keep it growing, we should take the shears to the weeds that inevitably sprout in our calendars.
There are lots of ways to slice 60 minutes: 1 x 60 = 60 | 2 x 30 = 60 | 4 x 15 = 60 | 25 + 10 + 5 + 15 + 5 = 60. All of the above equal 60, but they’re different kinds of hours entirely. A fractured hour isn’t an hour — it’s a mess of minutes. It’s really hard to get anything menaingful done. — It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work
How many of those meetings will move you closer to solving the most important problems for the week? You need to employ ruthless prioritization on your calendar with the same rigor you apply to your backlog. Every. Single. Week.
In the past, I would put the very arbitrary heads-down time in my days. Recently, I’ve started putting time for specific problems on my calendar. E.G. — first draft for next quarter’s strategy or partnership proposal. This has made me more accountable for actually doing that important deep work. And as an added benefit, folks are less likely to schedule over your blocked time when it looks like something of substance.
2. Schedule and Limit Low ROI Activities
I’ve started putting time for Slack and email on my calendar at regular intervals throughout my day. Outside of that, I have the app closed on my computer and notifications turned off on my phone. The folks that do need me on an urgent basis, know how to get ahold of me. This is my greatest defense against context switching. To take this even further, turn off all notifications on your phone. This is a radical way to break the cycle of reactivity.
I’m working to apply the same practice to my consumption of content in spaces like Twitter. While I’ve curated my feed to be valuable and inspiring, it’s still too easy to scroll endlessly. In addition to scheduling time for intentional learning, I’m going to take Dickie’s advice.
3. Employ Leverage
I wrote a whole post on how to employ leverage as a Product Manager. Check it out for a deep dive. It comes down to thinking in terms of opportunity cost. Here are a few of the tactical takeaways to enable you to be calmer and more effective.
- Use modular writing to level up your documentation.
- Use video via Loom to unlock effective asynchronous collaboration.
- Make scheduling easier with Calendly. Seriously. Do this.
- Automate your recruiting process for user interviews.
- Build a set of reliable reference customers you can go back to.
- Master note-taking to build a second brain.
- Treat key relationship building as a high ROI activity.
Shreyas Doshi has a great thread that goes deep here as well.
4. Establish Your EOD Routine
Remember the ECON 101 concept of diminishing returns? You might find extra output from burning the midnight oil for a while. But work long and hard enough and you’ll eventually hit burnout. That will result in low-quality work and a body full of cortisol.
Lately, I’ve been trying to be better at leaving work at the (home) office. This will look different for everyone, but here’s the rhythm I practice as my day winds down.
Evaluate today. What important problems did I work through? What did I fail to get done? How have my priorities and focus shifted? What was something memorable that happened? No shame — just reflection. Write it down.
Prepare for tomorrow. After reflecting on the day, I’ll look forward to tomorrow. What’s my daily highlight? What meetings should I mentally prepare for?
Let go. At this point, I’ve looked back at my day and have prepared for what tomorrow will hold. I try to take 5 minutes to practice mindfulness or gratitude. It signals to my mind and body that we’re done for the day.
Decompress. On a good day, I’ll end it by getting on my bike for a few miles. But more often, I’ll take our Corgi for a walk and let my mind wander.
Rest. That worry you have about a product launch in 4 months won’t be solved as you cook dinner or lay awake restless at 3 AM.
It’s simple and may seem a bit cliche. But this practice has helped me enjoy my evenings with my family, sleep better, and enjoy my work more.
Take a Breath
We looked at four tactical tips to slow down and be calmer. I’m far from perfect. I fall in and out of these habits, but when I’m most stressed — it’s helpful to have a playbook to return to.
What about you? How do you find time for the most important deep work as a product person? Let me know in the comments or this Twitter thread.
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