Pause: The Most Important Tool for Product Manager
Working in a fast-paced tech company as a Product Manager can be quite challenging. Everything should be done immediately and urgently, it can make you feel trapped with no time to breathe. From the endless emails, never-ending chats, requirements that need to be finalized, slides that you need to update for the management team, and of course production issues that keep coming back to you. Does this sound like your day to day challenges? If so, I think I understand how you feel right now.
“What should I do?” That’s probably the big question that pops in our minds when all of those things comes together. What can we do? I think we should pause.
It sounds simple, taking a few moments to stop doing whatever we are currently doing. However, if you look closer, it’s beyond that. Taking a step back and pausing could actually be your strongest tool as a Product Manager as it will help you deliver high-quality work. Here’s why:
Pause to reprioritize
It is not a secret that oftentimes stakeholders want to get everything done at the same time. Everything comes out as an urgent request and a high priority. Let me tell you, when everything is a high priority then nothing is a priority.
When all those requests come at the same time, pause. Look at everything on your plate, list down, and re-assess. You are the Product Manager, the one who truly understands the impact and effort for each feature, product, or project. So pause and reprioritize, be transparent to all stakeholders for all items on your plate and be clear on the expected delivery date. Get everyone on the same boat and aligned.
Pause to regroup
As a Product Manager, you might not be aware of detailed updates or progress for each feature, product, or project. Do not rush to answer questions, you can always pause and regroup with all related teams to get a precise update and come out with answers that have been aligned.
Pause to explore
With never-ending emails, chats, questions, feature releases, and production issues we could easily feel drowned and forget to check and explore the most important stakeholder for Product Managers: our users and customers. Always spend time to pause, put away all other items and focus on customers.
Deeply research on customer feedback, note their major complaints, feedback, behavior, or even suggestions from all sources. The product team definitely has a product roadmap and business has their business request, but at the end of the day, what matters the most is our users and customers. So always pause and spend time exploring our users.
Pause to celebrate
Product Managers and almost everyone in the team forgot the importance of celebrating achievement. Rather than taking time to cherish our glory, we directly go after our next goals, projects, or milestones. It is easy to get caught in this cycle.
So pause, put away everything and take your time to recognize your achievement in fun ways, and do what you enjoy the most. Also, by recognizing your achievement, you get some time to reflect on the journey you took and look out for your strength so you can leverage that to secure future achievements.
Final thoughts
In the fast-paced working environment we live in today, there are a lot of pressure with so many stakeholders and so many things that could go wrong. It is easy to feel trapped, tired, and caught up in an endless and tiring cycle.
Always remember to breathe deeply and pause, take a few moments, and think clearly. Remember, taking a few moments to put away everything will make a huge difference in your outcome.
Pausing might not solve all your problems, but it will definitely help you slow down, reflect on wonderful things that you’ve achieved and enhance your motivation to do things even better.
Start your pause.
Good luck.
If you’re interested in applying for a full-time position or intern, Blibli is currently hiring! Send your resume to recruitment@blibli.com and get the chance to work with our PM and UX team and create our own unique stories.
