The Harvard Business Review recently published a very interesting article on collaboration overload – https://hbr.org/2016/01/collaborative-overload The article states that 25-30% of value-added collaboration comes from only 3-5% of employees. These top-collaborators often experience burn-out as they receive more and more requests for their time in collaboration.
Product Managers can easily find themselves as these hubs of collaboration. It’s natural given the role of Product Management as we must be experts not only in our product functionality but also in how our products are used by customers. For a new Product Manager, it’s powerful to acknowledge that collaboration is not always a good thing. Often collaboration and helping others is presented as a virtue, and it’s very hard to say ‘no’ to requests for help. However, a Product Manager needs to understand that burnout from collaboration is real, and that collaboration can be distributed throughout an organization instead of only focused on Product Managers. Inefficient collaboration can be a major time cost for a new Product Manager, resulting in less time spent on critical activities.
I recommend you read the article and see if the issue of collaboration overload is familiar to you. If so, the article provides several tips and strategies to keep effective collaboration without overloading key players, like Product Managers.
As 2015 comes to a close, I’ve got New Year’s resolutions on the mind. There are many articles the days talking about setting Product Management resolutions, like keeping a neater inbox or setting goals. Personally I found this article from Slate the most inspiring – Leave It At The Office.
The article challenges us to make a resolution to avoid the temptation of an ever-connected work environment and put boundaries on work. Give work the time it deserves, and make sure you give yourself the time you need too. The author lists a couple great reasons, such as the power of having more time for hobbies and better health. There are many others too, such as setting a good example for co-workers who are also tempted to work late.
For me, it’s especially important to not work outside normal hours because it’s too easy to say yes to unimportant requests otherwise. If someone asks for a favor or a meeting, it often can mean that it pushes important items into after-hours work if I say yes. If I let this happen, I easily get into a habit of working later and later to keep up with all the little favors and requests that come in over a day. I like to use the phrase “death by a thousand paper cuts” when this happens. Instead, if I keep the 8 hours a day at work precious, it makes prioritization of time all the more pressing leading to nos to requests that really aren’t important. This limit on time cascades down to me focusing only a small number of items a day or week, and doing them really well.
For yourself or a new product manager, I encourage you to make the resolution to work less in 2016. Either as a skilled PM or a new one, it is very easy to get into a habit of working late and not having a boundary on your precious time to recharge and grow personally. Use the New Year as a time to reset your work/life balance to start the year off at your best both at work and at home.
By Erato at Italian Wikinews via Wikimedia Commons
A Product Manager’s job is full of distractions. From support issues to pressing Team questions, the day can fly by with time only spent on what’s “urgent” rather than what’s “important.” It can be especially difficult for a new Product Manager to control the constant interruptions as their prior role was likely not interrupt-driven. It’s thus important to help a new Product Manager learn techniques that can help them be efficient with their day. Pomodoro is one such excellent technique, and a great one for you to either learn along with a new Product Manager or a simple method to teach them.
The Pomodoro Technique offers a simple approach to creating space in your day for dedicated focus on important items. A Pomodoro is 25 minutes of uninterrupted time, followed by a 5 minute break. Of course you must defend the Pomodoro from distraction by turning off your computer’s notification (Mac’s “Do Not Disturb” feature is great) and silencing your phone. You then set a timer, either physical or on your computer, for 25 minutes and get to work. You don’t get up for a coffee, you don’t check your email, and you don’t change your Pandora station. You just focus on the task you’ve assigned yourself until it’s done. If an interruption occurs, such as someone coming to your desk, you ask them kindly if you can get back to them at your next break (up to 25 minutes from now). If you tell them that you need to focus on an important piece of work and will get back to them shortly, they’ll understand. And if something truly urgent and important comes up, you cancel your Pomodoro to handle it, but you get no credit for your partial Pomodoro.
When the 25 minute Pomodoro is done, give yourself a pat on the back, and take a break from your computer. Get up, stretch, grab a drink and use the bathroom. Then come on back and sit down for you next Pomodoro. Practice makes perfect, and one of the key rules for Pomodoro is “The next Pomodoro will go better.” When first learning the technique try it out during a time that naturally less filled with interruptions to get in the habit.
For your timer, some folks like a physical kitchen timer as they love the feel of winding the clock. You can’t easily cancel a kitchen timer, and they find the quiet tick-tick of the clock soothing. For me, I prefer a virtual timer as it’s quiet for my co-workers and I like to listen to music while I work. You can find many free options, and on Mac you can search the App Store for “Pomodoro” for many choices.
There’s much more to be covered to be effective on the Pomodoro technique, and I’ll cover advanced techniques in future posts. For now, this is all you need to get started, to give yourself 25 minutes of focused time in your day. Try it out and see how effective you can be with some Pomodoros. If you want to learn more now, check out this free 40 page PDF ebook.
