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👋 Hey friends!
Last Tuesday, I watched people I’ve worked with since my very first day get laid off.
My role wasn’t impacted. Theirs were.
I got basically nothing done that day. Nobody knew who was impacted yet, so I just watched our Slack thread, waiting for goodbye messages. Some people had time to post one. Others I didn’t hear about until I saw it on LinkedIn later. (👀 Or worse, when I tried to book time on their calendar.)
What surprised me most is that you can feel relieved, sad, and a little guilty all at the same time. I’ve felt all three this week.
Layoffs and reorgs happen a lot in tech right now, so I wanted to put together the guide I wish I’d had last week, for both sides.
On Wednesday I wrote about running a QBR on yourself, so your impact is never something you have to scramble to remember. Today is the rest of the plan.
💡: Layoffs are usually about budgets and strategy, and very rarely about how good someone was at their job. If you were impacted, please don’t read it as a grade on your work.
Part 1: If you were impacted
The first week is a blur. These three things matter most.
1. Don’t sign anything on day one.
Severance agreements often come with a review window, and it’s worth using it.
If you’re handed an agreement, then ask how long you have to review it, and consider having an employment lawyer look it over. Rules vary a lot by province, state, and country.
2. Write your one-sentence story before anyone asks.
You’ll be asked “what happened?” in every coffee chat and interview. Have a short, calm answer ready.
If you’re a PM: “My role was part of a restructuring. I led [your biggest win], and I’m looking for [what’s next].”
If you’ve been wanting to move into product: “My role was part of a restructuring, and I’m using it to make the move into product I’ve been working toward.”
This is where Wednesday’s QBR pays off. If you have one, you’re starting your search with your proof already written. If you don’t, save your performance reviews, public launch links, and kind messages from teammates today, because access can disappear fast. (Company data stays with the company.)
3. Ask your network for something specific.
“I’m looking for a new role” is hard for people to act on. Try something like “I’m looking for an associate PM role at a B2B SaaS company, and I’d love intros to anyone at these three.” Now your network knows exactly how to help.
Then set working hours for the search, and stick to them. (👀 The job boards will still be there in the morning.)
Part 2: If you weren’t impacted
This is the side I’m on right now, so I’ll be honest: it’s a weird place to be. You still have a job, and you can feel relieved, guilty, and overwhelmed all at once.
All three are normal. So is getting nothing done the day it happens. Give yourself that day. Here’s what’s helped since.
1. Reach out to the people who left.
Even a short message means a lot right now. If you can, write them a LinkedIn recommendation or offer a warm intro.
If you don’t know what to say, then keep it simple: “I loved working with you. How can I help?”
2. Map what they owned.
When someone leaves, their projects, dashboards, and customer conversations don’t automatically get a new owner. They usually sit there until a customer or stakeholder asks about them.
If a teammate’s work was left behind, then list it and get an explicit owner, or an explicit “we’re pausing this,” for each item.
3. Rewrite the roadmap for the team you have now.
Layoffs often come with a reorg, and that’s been most of my last two weeks: wrapping up what’s in flight this sprint, then diving into research for next sprint and next quarter.
If your team changed, then finish or explicitly pause what’s in progress before planning anything new. Then ask your manager, “With fewer people, what should we stop or slow down?” and share the new plan with stakeholders. That way, if something slips, everyone already knew it might.
Rewriting a roadmap for a smaller team? Jira Product Discovery was my go-to in my first PM role for keeping ideas, research, and priorities in one place. Big fan.
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4. Make the tradeoffs visible.
A short weekly update (what shipped, what’s blocked, what you’re deprioritizing) protects you and helps leadership see the real cost of doing more with less.
If you’re quietly absorbing extra work, then nobody sees the cost, and it becomes the new normal.
5. Be a little selfish (in a good way).
A restructure is one of the rare moments when ownership is up for grabs. Projects lose their owners, priorities get reshuffled, and nobody has fully decided who does what yet.
I’m watching people on my team do this right now. They’re picking up projects and making them theirs, without waiting to be asked.
If you see something important without a clear owner, then raise your hand for it and say why you’re the right person. This is especially true for my CS, support, and ops folks who want to move into product. Feedback programs, beta coordination, and customer research are often the first things orphaned, and they’re also how you build credibility before you have the title.
🎯 Try this
If you were impacted: Write your one-sentence story today and say it out loud three times. It gets easier.
If you stayed: Bring a “stop doing” list to your next 1:1 with three things you think should pause.
If you’re trying to break into product: Find one project that lost its owner and make the case for taking it on this week.
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Hit reply and tell me: Which side are you on right now, and what’s the hardest part? I read and respond to every reply.
Whichever side you’re on this week, be kind to yourself. If you were impacted, start with the essentials and take it one day at a time. If you stayed, check in on the people who left, be honest about what your team can realistically take on, and keep an eye out for projects you’d love to own.
P.S. If you’ve been impacted by a layoff, my clarity calls are free. We can work on your story, your search plan, or just figure out the next step together. Book a time on ADPList.