Things I've seen good PMs do

Career hack articles are a dime a dozen on the internet - and so is advice on how to do well at work. The reality is that different sectors, roles, products and levels of seniority require different skillsets, and ultimately the ability to evolve as time goes by.

What I think is lacking in the online discourse about good product management, however, is a discussion about a few concrete, actual, day-to-day skills I've reliably seen linked with great product managers working at brilliant organizations.

Unlike a "career hack" (which is, by definition, a quick fix), this is stuff you can do on a day to day basis - but doing it won't necessarily make you great at your job. Rather, these are attributes that indicate you have time to focus your work energy to excel at your job, rather than barely manage to fulfill your tasks every day. Like an Olympic gymnast's smile during a difficult routine, doing this shows that you have sufficient bandwidth to perfect your craft - and focus on what matters.

Without further ado, here are some of the things I've seen some of the best PMs I've worked with do at work - and that I personally think are important. None of these is specifically related to product management - they hold for most creative and technical jobs as well. There might be more, but this is all I have for now.

1: 📬 They are available

We often talk about doing deep work, and the ability to take time as a PM to do strategic thinking about what you're building. And that's fair: it's an important part of the role, and you should be able to turn your notifications off to power through your to do list, sketch some design thoughts, or test some of your assumptions.

But availability to your colleagues is just as important as deep work. Especially in large organizations, your product doesn't exist in a vacuum. You will get questions from your colleagues, most of which are actually thoughtful and legitimate. Not answering those questions leads people to build their own assumptions about your product and your competences and take decisions without you and your knowledge. It turns you into that guy - the one who everyone is always waiting for, and chasing. In the long run, this behavior makes your product diverge from the org's vision - no matter how much deep work you do on it.

Reserving some time every day to answer your inbound messages helps you spot those divergences long before they appear. It makes you the guiding star for everything related to your product, and disseminates knowledge about what you're building much more than a quarterly presentation or a weekly all-hands. In the long run, it paradoxically reduces the number of questions you get, as you keep your colleagues' expectations aligned with your vision.

Being available is a positive behavior trait I've seen on all levels - from junior to Chief Product Officer - and it is a key bit of being part of a team.

2: They prep meetings 📝

A lot of people I've worked with - either because of their experience or because of their ego - think that they can just improvise at any meeting. That's unfortunate, since meetings (either face to face or online) are a huge time drain, and should either be useful or not happen at all. It's O.K. having a bad meeting every once in a while, but consistently trying to wing it is disrespectful of both your time and that of everyone attending.

Does this mean you need to circulate notes before every meeting, and do 1 hour of prep work? Please, no. However, you should:

🕒 Be on time: meeting delays compound by the number of attendees: 5 minutes late in a 6-people meeting is half an hour of work. Be there when it starts. And finish on time.
📅 Describe the meeting in the meeting invite. No one likes to scramble looking for notes or document - not even you. So either link the thing to be discussed in the meeting invite, or provide a short summary in it.
Not doing so leads to people double-guessing what the meeting is about, questions about the topic, and an awkward first 10 minutes (see previous point). I personally apply the motto 'no agenda, no attend-ah' to my meetings: if there's no description, I will reject the invite.
⏭️ (if you're the meeting lead), send a short recap of the action points right after the meeting. As people run off to their next meeting, they will forget half of the things that were discussed. Make it easy for them by sending a short reminder they can go through when they pick up the tasks discussed. Especially useful for recurring items.

A final rule of thumb: you should only schedule back-to-back meetings if you're not the organizer. Stacking your calendar like a little game of Tetris might make you look busy, but it has a terrible effect on your ability to show up prepare. Keep a small 15-minute buffer between meetings to collect your thoughts and do some upkeep, and you'll ensure your meetings are useful, start on time, stay on topic, and are wrapped up with some real progress points in a consistent manner.

3: 👂 They listen more than talk

Everyone likes to give big presentations about his or her own products. But what sets impressive PMs apart is the ability to listen and capture information about what others are working on.

Inside a bustling organization that encourages creative thinking, it's easy to start thinking about new projects and solutions. But smart people will often come to similar solutions through separate paths - and this leads to building the same thing twice.

A common trait of the best PMs I've worked with then - ranging from junior to director level - is the ability to listen and map other colleagues' effort into their own roadmap. That enables them to build impressive products with surgical precision and without wasted effort, not so much by broadcasting their product to the org (although this is important as well); but rather by building a common understanding of other PM's efforts, and shape their own products around those constraints.

4: 🛠️ They grow their toolbox

A lot of product people I interview, especially in more senior positions, and especially at larger organizations, seem to have lost the ability to learn about new tools.

But any organisation that is worth your while is always experimenting with new design tools, new technologies, new productivity tools, and ultimately new ways of getting work done. There's no need to follow the hype, but if you're working on a low-stakes or boring project, why not take the chance to upskill your toolset by getting work done with an unfamiliar tool? Or explain a concept or idea with a prototype rather than with a meeting or design document?

Even more importantly, there might come a time where there is no one available to do the work you urgently need. Learning some basic design skills (Figma, Illustrator and Photoshop at least), some coding skills (Python, SQL and Java), some project management (Jira/Confluence, Asana, Notion) will allow you to solve bottlenecks in a pinch by taking matters in your own hands.

Constantly growing your toolbox makes daily work more enjoyable and ultimately lets you increase your productivity while keeping that sense of wonder you had on your first day on the job - no matter how senior you are.

5: 🧸 They are kind

Picture this: A few years ago, I was in a meeting with a talented person, discussing a very involved piece of work. Part of this work was completed by another team - at record time and with a lot of effort - but it wasn't really up to standards. This person started scrapping large parts of the work, while referring to the team as 'a bunch of f***ing idiots'.

Now, there might be some organizations where this type of behavior is tolerated or even encouraged. It creates a climate of mutual pressuring that leads people to give all they got on their work to avoid being labeled 'a bunch of f***ing idiots' by some senior exec. But it also completely stifles creative thought and leads to low tenure, opportunistic thinking, 'every-man-for-himself' behavior, and a generally stressing environment that is no fun to work in.

In general, the environment you work in can be difficult to change. What you can do, however, is be kind to everyone you work with. Highlight good work, thank them when they deliver, encourage them when they don't. Help rebuild confidence after a failure. Let people know when they have succeeded. Thanking people, celebrations, public shout-outs and the feeling that what others do matters, is noticed, and is loved by you, go a long way in making people happy to work with you.

A lot of people give this advice with the underlying assumption that it is about karma or about building up some sort of transactional credits. "I was kind to this person, and later he or she helped me reach my goals". That is utter nonsense: if you're the 'opportunistic kind' type of person, people will notice. It might very well be a good career hack for attaining your goals, but it won't do much in making your place of work a happier place.

No, being kind is not something you should do it not because you expect to cash in your Kindness Credits™ further down the line, but because:

being kind shows you make time to be available and to help others, turning you into the guiding star for a better place of work (see under 1 - 📬 be available)
being kind makes you happier and gives you positive energy to spend on your own projects
you'd want others to be kind to you - but that's something that can only be achieved if everyone pays it forward

You won't remember the stuff you worked on 10 years from now - but you'll still remember who you worked with. So make it count.