New leaders of Product Managers often struggle with managing their calendars.  Time to lose the habits of the old role and now focused on aspiring to be the leader you want to be.  For newbies in this overwhelming world, this is one of the hardest changes to make.  To move from an individual contributor to a functioning (and informed) manager of a team requires a different way of approaching an increasing amount of information full of assumptions, bias and speed.  To do this, I have advised my leaders to follow the 50-25-25 rule. 

50% – Focus on your team.

Congratulations!  You were promoted for a reason.  You have the demonstrated the skills & abilities needed in the organization.  With that said, what makes you the best candidate is the goal of taking your strengths and mentoring others to achieve the same or greater talents.  This feels easier than what it is in reality.  Coach Beard from Ted Lasso reminds us that “All people are different people” which makes the job infinitesimally harder.  Additionally, you have to set the standard of behavior, ownership, accountability, etc…. and that is even harder when you have a myriad of expectations on a team.  As championship winning coach Nick Saban shared, “…Everyone has to buy into the same standard.”  

With all of that said, spend 50% of your time focused on your team.  Focus on two critical items.  1). Them, their motivations their behaviors/tendencies. And 2) Clear and actionable goals and/or expectations.  Depending on the size of your team, this will require every bit of 20 hours for new a new Product Management leader.  Attending Core Team meetings, 1:1s, and team meetings is imperative to scalability.  Communication is so incredibly hard and only team allows for efficient and trusted dialogue.

25% – Focus on your peers

Your peers are the windows into the operations throughout the company.  They enable guidance into the directives to come, ways to operate and cultural nuances, keep you grounded when understanding is needed, and ultimately will be your community of colleagues that will be with you for years to come.  This group is a massive influence for your success as well as for theirs.  As with your own team, spend time getting to know them, their motivations and behaviors/tendencies.  

25% – Focus on Management

The most obviously statement is ‘Managing up is paramount’.  Guard your brand with ferocity as in the deep dark corners where whispers happen, reputations are won and lost.  More openly, your reputation will be discussed in performance discussions (9-box), promotions and other opportunities.  Guard these discussions carefully as they are often asynchronous risks:  it’s hard to gain a promotion through the whispers of other senior leaders but it’s quite easy to lose status.   Be mindful, take notes, and deliver on what you promise.  But make no mistake, managing up is hard and needed!

With all of that said, someone will inevitably insist there is a fourth category of Focus on Self.  This is very true but sadly, unless you’re in academia or on a strategy team that prioritizes introspection, ‘Focus on Self’ tends to happen ‘off hours’. Focus on Self is critical but not easy to schedule.  

Congratulations on the new role! Well Earned.