Hey friends,
Product management is often described as “the CEO of the product.” But if you’ve ever actually worked as a PM, you know the reality is very different. Instead of making big strategic calls all day, most of our time is spent:
✅ Chasing down Slack updates
✅ Debating priorities with stakeholders
✅ Realizing our assumptions were wrong (again)
So, how do we work smarter instead of just working harder? This week, I want to share a few lessons that have helped me be more productive, make better decisions, and—most importantly—stay sane as a PM.
Let’s dive in. 👇
🎯 Lesson 1: The 3-Hour Rule for Deep Work
PMs are constantly in reactive mode—meetings, messages, and “quick asks” that derail our day. But the best PMs I know block 3 hours of protected time every day for high-leverage work.
How It Works:
🕘 Morning Block (1.5 hours) → Strategic thinking, roadmap planning
⏳ Mid-Day Block (1 hour) → Creative problem-solving, user research
🌅 End-of-Day Block (30 mins) → Reflection & strategy adjustments
Even if you can only carve out one of these, you’ll be amazed at how much clearer your thinking becomes.
🔥 Try This: Block time on your calendar now for deep work. No meetings. No Slack. Just focus.
📖 Further reading:
🔗 Cal Newport’s Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success
🔗 Paul Graham’s Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule
⚠️ Lesson 2: The Biggest Mistake I Made as a PM
When I started as a PM, I thought my job was to have the answers. Turns out, that was a disaster.
I’d jump straight into solution mode without deeply understanding the problem. The result? We built features that sounded good on paper but didn’t actually solve user pain points.
What I do differently now:
Before kicking off any project, I ask three key questions:
💡 What’s the real user pain point?
📊 How will we measure if this actually solves the problem?
🔬 What’s the smallest experiment we can run to validate our assumptions?
Lesson learned: Great PMs don’t have the best answers. They ask the best questions.
📖 Further reading:
🔗 The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick – How to ask better questions and truly understand user pain points.
🔗 Teresa Torres’ Continuous Discovery Habits – A framework for building the right thing based on user insights.
⏳ Lesson 3: The 5-Hour MVP – Testing Ideas Without Code
Most PMs think an MVP is about building a basic version of the product. But that’s a trap.
A great MVP is about testing assumptions fast—without building anything at all.
Here’s a simple framework:
🕐 Hour 1: Define your core assumption (What needs to be true for this idea to work?)
🕑 Hour 2: Find a fast way to test it (Landing page? Manual process? Cold outreach?)
🕒 Hour 3-4: Run the experiment
🕔 Hour 5: Analyze results → Pivot, persevere, or kill the idea
Example: Dropbox didn’t build a product first—they launched with a simple explainer video. People signed up before a product even existed.
🚀 Takeaway: Before writing a single line of code, ask: What’s the easiest way to test if users actually want this?
📖 Further reading:
🔗 Dropbox’s original video
📖 Lesson 4: Why the Best PMs Think Like Writers
If you want to be a better PM, stop studying product roadmaps. Start studying great writers.
Why? Because both PMs and writers need to:
🧠 Clarify their ideas → If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it.
👀 Think from the audience’s POV → It’s not about what you want, it’s about what they need.
📖 Tell compelling stories → Data convinces, but stories drive action.
💡 Try this:
Next time you write a PRD, pitch it like an engaging blog post. Instead of just listing specs, tell the story of why this matters.
📖 Further reading:
🔗 Ann Handley’s Everybody Writes – A guide to clear, engaging writing.
🤔 Final Thought: What’s the Hardest Part of Being a PM?
To wrap things up, I’m curious—what’s the most challenging part of product management for you?
❌ Saying “No” without making enemies?
⚙️ Getting engineers to care about business goals?
🌫️ Dealing with constant ambiguity?
👉 Reply and let me know—I read every response!
Until next time,
Stefanie