Your Week as a PM
One of the most common questions aspiring PMs ask is, “What does your typical day look like?” There is no typical day for a PM. At best, you can get to a typical week. This will be filled with meetings, calls, backlog grooming sessions, customer calls, etc. If you are a PM, you already know how precious your time is. So, where do you find the time to learn and grow?
Here is my calendar for learning. This has worked well for me in the past, and I hope this can work for you, too, whether you are a PM, group PM or product exec in any size company.
Focused Mondays
Do you have Manic Mondays? I keep my Monday focused on products/projects. Things pile up over the weekend: meetings you need to set up and think through, decks you need to create and send out, data you need to dive into. So, I prefer to focus and get my sh*t together for the week. Great PMs are relentless at execution. You cannot fail in this area, regardless of how much of a visionary PM you are. Stay focused and on your game for the most important day of the week to set the tone for the rest of the week.
Tool Tuesdays
The PM function is a generalist role, but you need skills in every specialty. You need to be knowledgeable about design, analytics, big data, marketing, operations, engineering, Excel, project management, people management — the list is endless. For example, I picked up some Sketch, Axure, Balsamiq and Adobe Photoshop during some Tool Tuesdays. Am I great at them? No. But I can quickly whip up a wire frame or update a design if something is amiss before an important meeting. Same thing with React, JavaScript and Android. Regardless of whether you are a junior PM or a PM exec, your skills need to stay current. One of the ways you can stay disciplined in skill-building is to pick one specific area for a quarter, and register for a class. You can’t go wrong with this one; pick any area, and you will continue on your path to greatness.
Big-Vision Wednesdays
This is a great day for big-picture thinking. You are still in the middle of the week, and several current and future things are swirling in your head. See if you can clear your calendar to have no meetings that day, and perhaps, work from home. Given the COVID-19 situation, this is so much easier, as you are likely already working from home. Block 2 hours for this “Big Think” day — make sure to take notes/draw boxes/doodle, as you need output. Synthesize your work on alternate weeks. You will have to alternate between research and synthesis. Refine the vision for your current product, or come up with a vision for a new one. The point is you need to think broad: ecosystem, players, competitors, customers, technology advances. Start with a big question — something such as, “How will Apple Pay disrupt online payments?” — and go from there.
Co-Worker Thursdays
The PM role is the most connected role in the company. This is a day to connect with your peeps in one-to-one meetings with design/engineering/analytics/marketing/sales leads. This can also be the day you actively network within your company. Who is that executive you are looking to emulate, that PM you are inspired by? Set up time to meet them. The reason this is such a good day for meeting people is because this also ends up being a happy-hour day. Face-to-face meetings are certainly not possible nowadays, but read this post on how you can stay connected during the pandemic.
Customer Fridays
Every great PM has the pulse of their product’s customers. How do you develop this muscle? You need a systematic way to interact with your customers. I got the inspiration to set up a day for this when I read about a McKinsey partner who would make it a point to lunch with a CEO every Friday. He was constantly learning what was important to them through this process. The key here is Fridays are days when customers — in most industries — feel free to talk and loosen up. They are looking forward to the upcoming weekend and, therefore, are more likely to engage with you. Make sure to write down notes, synthesize your insights, and share them with your colleagues. Customer insight is your superpower, and your company and team appreciate you for every insight that can help create meaningful value.
That was the full week. You need a lot of discipline to build this into your schedule. It doesn’t matter which day you pick for what; focusing on your team, skills, customers and big vision at a regular cadence will help you continue to be on a path to be a great PM. Read Marc Andreessen’s interview with Sriram Krishnan regarding how he manages his week as a VC, and what he has learned over time.
I would love to hear your thoughts and productivity hacks on how you get your reps to PM greatness through the week.
