Balancing a High Priority Project with Your Workload
Keeping momentum on your product while managing a high-stakes product initiative
Your product sales have been struggling for months. You can no longer shrug this off as competitive pressure and a new market for your organization. You and your stakeholders have decided to overhaul your product to re-energize sales.
With this big product initiative landing on your shoulders, do you drop everything and focus on it?
It is very challenging to keep your motivation on your regular product initiatives when the big new initiative could overturn your work. Of course, you want to shine on the big new initiative.
It is best to hold back from abandoning your product even while you work on the next big thing.
Why Not Go 100% on the Urgent?
You know the downsides of multi-tasking. You have so much attention on the new initiative. What's wrong with focusing exclusively on the new initiative?
A few undesirable outcomes of going 100% on the urgent new initiative:
The new initiative isn't feasible to execute
Often the conclusion is unavailable resources and too many dependencies
Your product is in worse shape since you neglected it
Product momentum slows
You are busy with the new initiative and lose touch with the product team
Your product team starts going around you
Your relationships get stale
You cancel 1 on 1s and don't respond to emails
You lose touch with your best allies
Your customers are neglected
Issues that you normally handle go unanswered
The customers you need for the new initiative are less willing to help you
It would be so nice to just focus on the high-priority initiative and let everything go!
What can you do to take care of the new initiative and prevent damage to your ongoing product work?
Thriving with a New Initiative as a Product Manager
Product managers have several tactics for handling a new high-priority initiative while keeping their product running smoothly:
Define clear objectives and get alignment
Communicate about changes in commitments
Iterate on the new and old
Mitigate risks as you go
Keep celebrating milestones
These steps are effective for the new initiative and for keeping the momentum of your product.
