How do you effectively split your attention between contributing individually and coaching your PM's? Do these two priorities ever conflict with each other?

Of course they do! It's always a balance between those two sides. Mixing personal contributions with coaching other product managers can create tension if you’re not mindful. Setting clear boundaries around your schedule, defining what success looks like for both you and your team, and communicating these goals openly helps manage these two aspects. Things to Think About Dedicated Coaching Time:I try and dedicate time each week to ensure my team is getting what they need and that I am providing ...Read More

I'll be honest - this is something I still struggle with. While I try to establish clear ownership boundaries between my responsibilities and my teams', overlap is inevitable since we're all working toward the same goals at different altitudes. When conflicts arise, like when my work overlaps with a direct report's area, I consciously position myself as a peer rather than a manager. I never want my team making decisions just because I have an opinion, especially when I've empowered them as the e ...Read More

Contributing myself and supporting my team can be at odds with each other. Coaching and supporting my team is always my number one priority. There are times when I simply need to say no and deprioritize things to ensure I have enough time to support my team.  It's important to have open communication with my team about what I am working on, and it's something we talk about during our weekly one on ones. Sometimes someone on my team is interested in something that's on my plate, and they voluntee ...Read More

Coaching my PMs takes priority, people management is a force-multiplier if done correctly/effectively.I make individual contributions only if truly needed - a PM backfill hasn't been placed or a PM is struggling in a product that absolutely cannot fail. It was hard to to give up IC contributions initially as a people manager, but coaching your reports to be self-sufficient + autonomous + make quick/correct decisions, pays off dividends. If you miss IC work, go back to being an IC, the pay and gl ...Read More

As a PM leader, it is imperative to balance individual work and managing teams of PM's. There are some key tasks I would focus on as an IC such as setting up the right vision/strategy for the entire group, clear business metrics and customer impact that need to be communicated across the organization (and to leadership) In terms of coaching PM's, I would focus on 3 areas: Clear team wide priorities and OKR's: make sure the team is focusing on an overall goal to achieve. The way each PM+team migh ...Read More

As a manager for PM's, splitting your attention between contributing individually and coaching your product managers can be a challenging task. However, it is important to strike a balance between these two priorities to ensure that both your individual contributions and your team's development are optimized. One key aspect is managing expectations, setting ground rules and boundaries with your team, aligning with the company's vision and starting with small tasks and growing from there. There a ...Read More