🚀 Introduction

After catching up on some podcasts about Product Management, leadership, and effective communication, I felt inspired to document my own approach. This isn’t just for the community – it’s also a way to hold myself accountable as I grow in my product management journey.

Product Management is a complex and ever-evolving role. It demands a blend of technical expertise, business acumen, emotional intelligence, and adaptability. Each organization, product, and stage of growth brings its own unique challenges.

To stay ahead, I’ve distilled key learnings into actionable practices and habits that I’m incorporating into my daily and weekly workflow. This framework integrates modern tools – including LLMs (Large Language Models) – to elevate decision-making and communication.

If you’re on a similar path, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching your role. Let’s learn and grow together!

Best Practices for Product Managers 📊

1. Talk from the customer’s perspective
   Always put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Consider their needs, pain points, and motivations. Every feature, update, or pivot should stem from enhancing the customer experience.

2. Be data-informed (not data-driven)
   Use data as a guide – but don’t let it be the sole decision-maker. Balance data with intuition and market insights.

3. Blend anecdotes with data
   Numbers tell part of the story, but customer anecdotes reveal emotional context. Marry qualitative and quantitative insights for a richer perspective.

4. Convince stakeholders with a clear vision
   Product Managers are storytellers. Rally stakeholders around a cohesive strategy that connects emotionally and logically to the company’s goals.

5. Stay current with industry trends
   The best Product Managers are lifelong learners. Dedicate time to track emerging technologies, industry shifts, and competitors’ movements.

Weekly To-Do’s for Product Managers 📅

To stay proactive and aligned, I follow this simple yet effective weekly routine:

1. Review customer feedback and data
   Analyze feedback, support tickets, and product metrics. Look for recurring pain points or opportunities that align with the product roadmap.

2. Collaborate with stakeholders
   Schedule regular check-ins with cross-functional teams (sales, marketing, engineering). Align on priorities and foster shared ownership of goals.

3. Conduct market and competitor research
   Set aside time each week to explore industry news, competitor updates, and new technologies that could shape the product landscape.

4. Refine the roadmap
   Product roadmaps are living documents. Use weekly insights to re-prioritize tasks, ensuring customer needs and company goals remain front and center.

5. Communicate with clarity
   Transparency fuels trust. Provide weekly updates to teams and stakeholders, ensuring everyone understands progress, blockers, and upcoming priorities.

Leveraging LLMs for Product Management 🤖

LLMs (Large Language Models) have become invaluable in enhancing productivity and strategic thinking. Here’s how I’m using them to supercharge my workflow:

1. Summarize product strategy
   I use LLMs to distill long product documents or strategies into concise summaries. This not only saves time but often reveals areas for improvement or gaps in logic.

2. Analyze competitor strategies
   By ingesting publicly available documents (blogs, whitepapers, earnings calls), LLMs help uncover insights about competitors’ moves, empowering me to adjust strategies dynamically.

3. Challenge assumptions
   One of the more unconventional uses of LLMs – I ask questions designed to provoke uncomfortable answers. This helps me surface blind spots and refine decisions.

4. Draft communications
   From stakeholder emails to sprint plans, LLMs accelerate content creation, freeing up time for higher-level problem-solving.

Final Thoughts 💡

Product Management is as much about learning as it is about leading. By staying curious, leveraging new tools, and fostering collaboration, we can drive more impactful product outcomes.

This framework is a work in progress – just like the products I help build. If you have tips, feedback, or new practices that have worked for you, I’d love to hear them. Let’s elevate our craft together!

🎯 What’s one practice that’s made you a better PM? Let me know in the comments or message me directly!

Thanks for reading!

Chat about this?

Or use the share buttons at the top of the page! Thanks

Cheers! Fabs