6 things product designers should know in order to survive and thrive as a temporary PM

Co-written by Jess Watson and Emma Sims

Let’s paint a picture: your product manager has announced they’re leaving the company, and hiring a backfill is taking forever. There aren’t enough PMs to go around, so your team will be PM-less for the foreseeable future. This situation is uncharted territory and you’re at a point now where you, the product designer on the team, are finally ready to take on some PM responsibilities to keep the team moving. Congratulations — you’re now a temporary PM.

We’ll save all the hot takes on whether designers should PM for another day, but we’ve noticed there isn’t a ton of advice out there on how to succeed when filling in for one. We’re two senior product designers, Jess and Emma, on the Twilio Segment design team who have been in this situation recently.

Here’s what we have to share from our experience if you find yourself in a similar position…

Before your PM leaves

If you have time, here’s what you should do before your PM leaves:

• Find out who they talk to and work with on a daily basis. This will help you understand who you might have to start building partnerships with.
• Get a list of all their current responsibilities. Use this to get the team aligned on who will take on each responsibility in the interim (teamwork makes the dream work).
• Ask them for an off-boarding doc with any information they think is necessary to help the team run smoothly. Make sure it includes their ideas on strategy and vision, including prioritization of upcoming work. Having a doc like this will ensure maximum knowledge transfer and help with future prioritization.
• Spend some time making a list of all the questions you might have after they leave, and ask them to either answer async or chat live (or both!). It’s the closest thing you’ll get to exporting their brain.

While you’re a temporary PM

Ok, so now your PM is gone. Here are some things we learned during our time as temporary PMs which will help you survive and thrive:

1. Wear your design hat (prominently)

Use your strengths as a designer to your benefit. You’re in a great position to take this role on because of the knowledge you’ve already built around product decisions and strategy, not to mention your familiarity with the voice of the customer.

By having more visibility with folks across the org, you can:

• Prioritize design-led work where appropriate.
• Showcase the value of involving design early on in strategy and planning.
• Use your storytelling skills to communicate your ideas and get buy-in along the way. Creating compelling visual artifacts can enhance any product requirement doc!

2. Make delegation your friend

You are going to have a lot more responsibility, which means you’re going to need to learn to delegate and say no. Be communicative (and realistic!) about your bandwidth. Ensure you’re keeping in constant contact with your manager and the rest of your team — if you’re taking on too much, work with them to delegate tasks. Remember: this isn’t all on you, nor should it be. Ask for help when you need it.

3. Strengthen relationships

A large part of being a PM is building relationships across the organization. As you step into this role, you’ll notice you’re meeting a lot of folks you may not otherwise have had the opportunity to interact with. Get to know them and understand how your work impacts theirs.

You can also use this time to strengthen existing relationships with your research, design, and engineering partners. Lean on them to help brainstorm collaboration techniques and process improvements. It’s also totally cool if you just need them to lend an ear.

4. Write things down

We can NOT stress this enough. It is so crucial to write everything down. It may not feel like it in the moment, but you’re definitely going to forget your day-to-day conversations.

We recommend:

• Creating a decision log to capture the reasons behind each decision you make along the way
• Keeping a running agenda that includes notes and questions from each meeting
• Documenting action items with a corresponding team member responsible for following up

When your new PM joins (and when you’re writing your performance review), you’ll have a living document that reflects all of the work the team accomplished. You’ll thank us later.

5. Learn new skills (and note things you don’t like!)

Flexing your product muscle is something that’s super important for us as designers. Use this experience as a way to further identify areas of product management you enjoy, and areas that you find draining. This can help inform how you decide to collaborate with your new PM, and how you approach your design process going forward.

A couple things we learned:

• Understanding how project requirements are written can help improve how you annotate designs and communicate with your team.
• Deepening your knowledge of your organization’s success metrics can inform the rationale behind your design decisions.

6. Be kind to yourself

Being a PM isn’t easy, even for people who do it professionally. It’s going to feel daunting and uncomfortable at first, but remind yourself that you already have a strong foundation. You’re going to experience a lot of change and will have to take on tasks you’re unfamiliar with. It’s crucial to go with the flow and adapt, and continue to remind yourself that you’re a champ for taking this challenge on.

Becoming a full-time designer again

So…you’re getting used to this whole PM thing, and you’re kind of doing a kick-ass job. When your team hires a new PM, work with your skip-level product partners and cross functional partners to create an onboarding plan for them. Make sure to include the PM-focused tasks you’ve been doing that you want them to take over first — time to let go!

When your PM starts, set up time to get to know them and answer their questions. You can share an overview with them about the team, and any relevant learnings you’ve had in this role.

Remember: just because you have a PM doesn’t mean you have to throw away the relationships you’ve built or the hard work you’ve done. Bring them with you as you become a full-time designer again.

Good luck on your journey as a temporary PM — designers are so crucial to a product team’s success and flexing your product manager muscle will make you a better designer in the long run. You’ve got this!