Paweł Huryn 🇺🇦’s Post

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Author, Product Manager | Actionable Insights and Resources for PMs | Writing for 70K+

Some say the PM has to work 50+ hours a week. And continuously fight fires. I call BS. Here are 9 proven tactics to turn chaos into clarity: 1. Respect your strategy You can't be everything to everyone. Strategy requires tradeoffs. Some customers will be delighted, others disappointed. And that's a good thing because the best way to win is by being unique. 2. Set goals and trust your teams Providing baby-step instructions might result in a positive feedback loop, causing others to expect even more detailed instructions. Instead, communicate the vision (Why), strategic context, and goals so that people can make better decisions. Build a sense of ownership. Embrace the Netflix model: "Lead with context, not control." 3. Leverage the Pareto principle According to it, 80% of outcomes result from 20% of actions. Identify and double down on that 20% to get even more from them. Eliminate the rest. 4. Work in a single-threaded mode Multitasking is a myth. According to the research presented by Gerald M. Weinberg, each additional project or task is a loss of ~20% of productivity. Single-threaded teams are one of the secrets of Amazon's success. 5. Prioritize your tasks ruthlessly Many things busy PMs do don't matter. Will anyone ever read this 20-page-long document? Do you need this 2-hour meeting? Can you make it in 15 min? Or can it be done async (Slack, Teams)? 6. Apply the Last Responsible Moment (LRM) strategy One-way door decisions made too early can be risky and might backfire. Delay those decisions until the cost of not making a decision is greater than the cost of making it. 7. Don't fall in love with your ideas Embrace a culture of experimentation. Identify assumptions, perform experiments, and gather data to inform your decisions. A good failure is when the value of the lesson is greater than the cost of the lesson (credit: Alberto Savoia). 8. Don't obsess over frameworks Whether you use Scrum, OKRs, Opportunity Solution Tree, North Star Metric, or any other canvas, method, or framework, remember that its value is primarily in its underlying principles. Put effort into understanding them. But then trust your instincts and common sense whenever needed. 9. Take care of yourself Take breaks, get enough sleep, and exercise. Find a hobby unrelated to your work (mine is learning about the Universe). The quality of the hours you work is far more important than the quantity of hours spent working. - Hope that helps. I'm still learning and don't know everything. What would you add to that list?

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Vikas Singhvi

0 to n product and technology leader | Founder - Velora AI | ex- Microsoft | Builder, Tech Entrepreneur, AI and Data guy

4w

Great list Paweł. One thing I have struggled with - knowledge that we discover while building the product (new competitors/ their market strategies, new understanding of customer needs etc.) could throw doubt for the PMs themselves, hindering them from converting chaos to clarity for rest of the team, as we might find our initial ideas/ assumptions were incorrect. In such situations, we might still end up passing some chaos to the teams - I feel PMs should understand that this is OK - they can try to minimise the chaos for team members, but they are human after all and might not know everything at any point in time.

Maja Voje

Best-selling Author of GTM Strategist | Advisor & Mentor (+650 inc. Fortune 500 companies) 🧭

3w

💌 Honestly, PMs are some of the best people that I have worked with in my career. The range of knowledge is insane, the ownership close to the founder's, and the strength that you have to have to lead with confidence and not push the stress down the chain is admirable. It still has such an undervalued role, no matter what is happening in the market. Every founder needs a great PM by their side (or turn into one).

Kevin Jurovich

Co-founder, CEO at Circles | Startups & VC

4w

I am still getting used to your new profile picture :)

Sam Montoya

I help non-technical PMs become AI Product Management ready | Managed 12+ AI Products | Generated $250M+ in Revenue

4w

That is a great quote: "A good failure is when the value of the lesson is greater than the cost of the lesson."

Prashanth V.

Azure Supportability by Design - Product Quality, Customer Effort & Support Efficacy @Microsoft | EMBA - ISB | LBS | Wharton

4w

Thanks Paweł for putting through the tactics so nicely! I feel the culture of the org and stage of your product also impact the number of hours a PM has to spend a week.

Tcheilly Nunes

Telling stories, Building products, Connecting people.

4w

That's quite a robust list, man. I'll add: **Build strong relationships and networks**: Cultivate meaningful connections with stakeholders, vendors, customers, and peers. Effective product management often hinges on collaboration and understanding diverse perspectives. Building and nurturing relationships can lead to better communication, alignment of goals, and ultimately, more successful product outcomes. What's your take on it?

Allan T.

Product Manager & Digital Strategist | Driving Digital Product Strategies creating the new!

4w

Take care of your relationships You never know when you will need to talk to someone or to ask for help and to give you a hand, it is always good to have all yours relationships and network available to support you when you are not seeing solution. Have others people opinion is always good.

Oleksandr Swidersky

Portfolio Manager | People manager | Project manager | Trainer

3w

If only humans can behave reasonable...you naturally love your ideas and things you've touche.

Kareem El-Shaffei

Product Leader | I help PMs master high-performance | ex-Amazon

4w

Great points! I would also add that when it comes to the Last Responsible Moment - instead of “delaying,” find ways to either reduce the risk or turn the one-way door into a two-way door. With enough thought, I think we’d be surprised by how frequently we’re able to do this.

David Orlowski

Agile Leadership Multi Specialist | Building tomorrow's sustainable tech

3w

One of the best no-nonsense pieces of PM advice I have read on LI. This list strongly resonates with me and those tactics have indeed served me very well.

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