You’re a Product Manager who’s drowning in work. How can you stay afloat?

Set clear goals daily. It’s very easy for PMs to get pulled into different directions through out the day. What has been working for me is to start early (2 hrs ahead of team) and start with writing down top 3 To Do’s for the day It helps in retrospectively checking if I am working on the right things and it gives a sense of achievement at the ending the day when you tick off the items

Prioritisation is the key Takes should be mapped in 2 buckets - Urgent/not urgent & Important/not important 1.Urgent and important tasks should be prioritised 2. Low hanging fruits can also be taken 3. Not urgent and not important are mostly distractions in this situation and should be deprioritised for the moment It is advised to keep stakeholders updated on timelines and ask for resources/time wherever needed Setting realistic expectations is the key to manage this situation.

As a Product Manager overwhelmed with work, prioritize tasks based on urgency and impact. Delegate tasks where possible, and don't hesitate to communicate workload challenges with your team or superiors. Consider agile methodologies to break work into manageable chunks and regular reviews. Finally, ensure to take short breaks to recharge and maintain productivity.

The key is to look for transparency in setting expectations and making commitments. Even in most professionally run organizations, it's difficult to see goals charted out and flow consistently from the top down. Most of the time, middle managers give up to the temptation of passing on individual accountability to their team members even though it breaches the scope and transparency rubrics. Hence, if at all possible, It's very important to define the scope of the goals, what success looks like and how to course correct during the year.

Workload management is critical for the mental wellbeing of PMs + to ensure that they remain productive day in day out. Following helps to stay the course: 1. Set realistic goals and expectations with key stakeholders (internal as well as clients). More importantly, have realistic expectations from yourself. Charity begins at home. 2. Align everything that you do with the goals that you set. If it doesn't align with any of the goals, chuck it. 3. Break down large pieces of work into smaller checkpoints. Have timeline targets for reaching these checkpoints. If you fail to meet these timelines, analyze why you missed it and re-evaluate your goals and expectations based on this. 4. Delegate 5. Speak up when you've too much on your plate.

Product managers always have many things on their plate. When all your tasks seem most important (P0), then think which task is considered most important to your boss. Finish those tasks where you are blocking your team so that work can continue.

Not all words starting with DE- are negatively connotated! Delegate is one such positive word representing the virtue of - Trusting the team working for You - doing opposite of micro-managing - Prioritizing goals that would take you to the next level instead of being trapped in what has worked so far for You. I've said enough about prioritization. Personally, the MoSCoW model combined with 'Cost of Delay/Missing out' analysis has worked for me most of the time in building consensus.

Blame it on cross-geographical teams, most of the time Product managers are torn between time zones. Multi-tasking is antigoal for Productivity and Quality. Do when you must have to, else use the focus to do one thing to the best of your abilities. Taking quick break away from screen is not only good for your productivity, but for your eyes and preventing burnouts too. You have limited time! Manage it wisely.

Feedback is one of the most misunderstood tool. Most of the time it's feared for the halo of negatively. It's true that most of the people managers and peers lack the essential formal training on using feedback as a tool to bring positive incremental changes and build an ecosystem of trust around it. So, when it's your time to give feedback, use it with utmost care to break the cycle of negatively and hope that it permeates across the teams and comes as to You as such.

Please remember that most hardworking, ethical and benevolent team players go tough and unfair on themselves. We forget to be the best friend, guide, and philosopher to ourselves. Hence, don't undervalue Your achievements and do not miss to celebrate and reward yourself. Dopamine, the reward hormone works wonderfully, even for rewarding yourself!