A day of a product manager
You say, you want to become a product manager?
7:45 my alarms goes on.
By 8:35 I got ready, made myself a breakfast with oats and yogurt that I take to the office, checked if my laptop and the test device are in my bag and left the apartment.
I go to the back yard to get my bicycle. I cycle to work.
It’s been 3 months already after loosening the COVID-19 restrictions in Germany that I go to the office twice a week.
I love cycling to work. Most of my route is by the river Isar. The best way to start the day.
8:55 I am in front of the office.
Morning
By 9:05 I am at my desk. Grabbed some water from the kitchen and a spoon for my breakfast.
Until 9:30 (while I am chewing my oats) I start going through all the messages on Slack, emails and I finish up small things before the daily.
9:30 — Daily
Dailies are meetings where everyone updates each other on their tickets on the Jira board to outline the progress and highlight complications.
I find it extremely helpful to align with the team in the morning. These meetings give everyone so much clarity on the current state of work, inform everyone about the incidents, news and anything important that happened a day before. Everyone has a chance to ask questions in the end on the tasks they are working on.
Usually our dailies are no longer than 15 mins.
10:00 — Design&Product
I am meeting a designer that works with our team to discuss the progress of the ongoing topics and set priorities for the upcoming week.
We have come to the point that we need this alignment meeting on a weekly basis. I come to the meeting with the next prioritised user stories and the designer is there to show her work on the current topics.
From 11:00 — PM tasks
Until lunch I answer messages and finish up some tickets in Jira, do the acceptance and check on our cycle targets.
In Germany we eat lunch at 12:00. I know, it is quite early in average in comparison to other neighbouring countries like Spain and Italy, but I adjusted a while ago. Unless I want to eat alone.
It is funny how easy we adapt to the environment where we live. Germans start their day early, therefore very naturally they get hungry at around 12:00. So do I now.
Afternoon
13:00 — Product team meeting
I have a meeting with my Product team that consists of my lead, a colleague that is responsible for the web part of the product, our UX designer and a working student that we all adore and hope that will become a full-timer, once he graduates from the university.
This meeting is for
- the lead to tell us about the management updates, bigger news, decision and strategic moves,
- looking into the data to assess how close we are to reach our team targets,
- inform each other on the ongoing steam of work and exchange open questions, concerns and ideas.
***
When I say a MEETING, I mean a CALL.
I am taking all the calls from my desk. The access to the meeting rooms is limited. And there is no need for them — most of the meeting participants are not in the office anyways.
Since we started to come back to the office, office does feel the same. It is empty and not vibrant like it used to be. There was so much of social interaction with real in-person meetings, brown bag lunches, showcase sessions, free coffee and cookie hours. That all is gone. Remote can never substitute that.
***
From 14:00 — Showcase
I have 45 mins to prepare for the showcase next day.
The goal is to look retrospectively into the last month initiatives and share the results from any work that had an impact on the business targets.
In other words, I share impactful stories, anything that can be translated into numbers.
Sometimes these meetings can get monotone and boring, but that is mainly because people come to present every small thing that they did, whereas the goal is to share the impactful results. We work in an open feedback environment and we gave a lot of feedback for improving showcase meetings. It is getting better.
15:00 — Bug hunt
I am in a bug hunt meeting.
A slot when we all come together and test the new features, UI and UX improvements, and simply check on the overall usability of the app.
These normally happen on Thursdays because the team takes the time in the afternoon and on Friday to go through all the bugs and fixes that are supposed to be taken care of.
I love bug hunts. They are always fun. It is a playground for:
- using the app,
- getting accustomed with the new features,
- and of course, socialising with the team.
I usually check all the user stories in alpha version of the app before the meeting but it is still worth to go through the feature again, ask questions and take decisions.
These meetings are also fun because in my team we know each other well and there is a certain mood, internal jokes, nice discoveries about the product or each other. And it is always a great chance to learn something new.
In the end of the meeting, we define, if there are any release blockers and the team goes on to tackle the bugs.
16:00 until 16:30 — Break
I go to the kitchen for some tea, use the rest room. If I am lucky I meet someone I like and have a quick conversation on plans for the weekend and tough life in the time of pandemic.
Before the next meeting I go through the messages and emails to make sure no one is feeling abandoned.
16:30 — OKR check-in
I am in the call with the squad members. The alignment happens once a week.
OKRs are our measurable targets that we commit to for a cycle and tailor our roadmap to achieving them.
We made the meeting work: now everyone speaks about the progress of their targets and presents a highlight, a lowlight and a learning of the week. This way we can ensure that we keep the focus and attention of everyone.
Otherwise, this can turn into another meeting where people just care about what they have to say and once they are done, their mental capability for receiving and processing information is gone.
From 17:00 — Remote interviews
I am listening to the recordings of remote user interviews. We had a usability test held by an agency, which we would normally host in the user lab in the office. But this time we received the videos in a shred file, available to all the relevant stakeholders.
Usability tests are sessions where a researcher asks a participant to perform tasks, usually using one or more specific user interfaces. While the participant completes each task, the researcher observes the participant’s behaviour and listens for feedback.
I love user interviews. The best way to learn the app.
The best way to detach and observe how in actuality people use the features we develop, how they interact with the buttons and what they think about new releases. I take a lot of notes and come out from the session full of urge to improve things and make the UX better.
Shortly after 18:00 — Day is over
I realise that it is the end of the work day because I feel my eyes hurt from looking at the screen and my level of focus is quite low. Don’t get me wrong, there are days when I am tired earlier and days when I have too much energy.
I cycle back home. Thinking of what I am going to have for a dinner and plans for the weekend.
This is just an exemplary day. Sure enough, things are more flexible and unpredictable. I am always available on Slack because I communicate with the team constantly. I have lots of spontaneous calls with the developers and other stakeholders (especially now when you cannot just walk to someone’s desk). All in all, one day hardly looks like the other and that is the beauty of it.
