Great advice. I find I deal with being overwhelmed very well as long as all the outstanding actions/projects are on me. When too many outstanding actions/projects heavily rely on external individuals (particularly higher-ups), it gets frustrating.
I follow a similar system to yours. I create a Project in Todoist and keep track of the long-term ‘stuff’ in there. On a day-to-day, I timebox my work. I found doing that on paper works best. I write my timeline on the right page of a notebook and I write my top priority for the day on the left page.
The outstanding items with external individuals are difficult to manage - I've been grouping into themes to create something once and re-use it. Just like you, a paper notebook helps keep my focus on finishing weekly priorities.
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Thanks, Amy. The idea of themes is powerful. A few years ago, I felt my days were always scattered because I didn't align day-to-day tasks with higher-level objectives. Do you try to theme your days or is that not so practical?
I'm always surprised when I run into leaders who struggle with delegation. I've had quite a few in director roles or higher that just...kept trying to be doers. It really limited the growth of their teams.
First time to hear about Things app - looks pretty cool for grouping related tasks. The part of this article that helped me is grouping tasks into a theme so I can re-use one item with multiple stakeholders.
The best part of this article is hearing from you and other product managers how they manage through overloads. Thanks for the pointer to Things and how you do it Elena!
I really like how incredibly practical and pragmatic this approach is, Amy. I can see this acting like the oxygen mask a PM needs when the it becomes harder to breathe--metaphorically speaking! 😅
One thing I’ll say is that for many it can be difficult to have the self-awareness necessary to even see those signs of overload. It can be very helpful to enlist the team in calling us out when they see us struggling.
If I may add to the topic, I also wrote some time ago about avoiding overwhelm. Although not PM-specific, it might be helpful to your readers, too:
Yes! A PM need not only manage the product's priorities, but also their own priorities. Thanks for the input, Amy.
My personal way of dealing with "request overflow" is a combination of Eisenhower, GTD and LNO: https://www.leadinginproduct.com/p/how-to-manage-tasks-as-a-product but I really like the notion of themes.
Thanks for the article on your system!
Great advice. I find I deal with being overwhelmed very well as long as all the outstanding actions/projects are on me. When too many outstanding actions/projects heavily rely on external individuals (particularly higher-ups), it gets frustrating.
I follow a similar system to yours. I create a Project in Todoist and keep track of the long-term ‘stuff’ in there. On a day-to-day, I timebox my work. I found doing that on paper works best. I write my timeline on the right page of a notebook and I write my top priority for the day on the left page.
For some reason, it works!
The outstanding items with external individuals are difficult to manage - I've been grouping into themes to create something once and re-use it. Just like you, a paper notebook helps keep my focus on finishing weekly priorities.
Thank you for commenting - I just discovered your excellent product management newsletter - now I'm subscribed!
Thank you for the kind words!
Thanks, Amy. The idea of themes is powerful. A few years ago, I felt my days were always scattered because I didn't align day-to-day tasks with higher-level objectives. Do you try to theme your days or is that not so practical?
Thanks Justin! I theme my weeks to focus on getting something done. Some weeks go well and other weeks are challenging.
I'm always surprised when I run into leaders who struggle with delegation. I've had quite a few in director roles or higher that just...kept trying to be doers. It really limited the growth of their teams.
Yes! Better to delegate than holding projects that never get attention. Thanks Mike!
This advice is great! It’s pretty similar of how I plan my weeks using the Things app. Thanks for the post, Amy!
First time to hear about Things app - looks pretty cool for grouping related tasks. The part of this article that helped me is grouping tasks into a theme so I can re-use one item with multiple stakeholders.
The best part of this article is hearing from you and other product managers how they manage through overloads. Thanks for the pointer to Things and how you do it Elena!
I really like how incredibly practical and pragmatic this approach is, Amy. I can see this acting like the oxygen mask a PM needs when the it becomes harder to breathe--metaphorically speaking! 😅
One thing I’ll say is that for many it can be difficult to have the self-awareness necessary to even see those signs of overload. It can be very helpful to enlist the team in calling us out when they see us struggling.
If I may add to the topic, I also wrote some time ago about avoiding overwhelm. Although not PM-specific, it might be helpful to your readers, too:
https://open.substack.com/pub/hagakure/p/twh45-against-overwhelm
https://open.substack.com/pub/hagakure/p/twh46-against-overwhelm-part-2
Extremely comprehensive on managing overwhelming work. Thank you for sharing Paulo!