[Notes] PM Habits Seminar: Get Shit Done by Shreyas Doshi

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Topic

ProductivityProduct Management

Type

Quick take

I recently watched Shreyas Doshi's webinar, "PM Habits," which offers practical tactics that you can start implementing immediately. While some of these strategies may seem obvious or might not perfectly fit your situation, the key is to grasp the underlying principles and tailor them to your needs. Here are the notes I kept, segmented into topics:

The Power of Small Changes

One of the fundamental lessons from the webinar is the immense value of small, consistent changes. While large-scale transformations are often celebrated, it's the incremental improvements that truly compound over time. As a product manager, embracing this mindset can lead to substantial long-term benefits.

Preparation is Key

Preparation lies at the heart of effective product management. To enhance your efficiency, Shreyas emphasizes making habits easy to adopt and rewarding to maintain.

Mastering Meetings

Product managers often find themselves in various types of meetings, each with its own set of challenges:

Imposed Meetings: These are recurring meetings that you must attend.
Influenced Meetings: Meetings where you have some say in the agenda.
Initiated Meetings: Those you schedule and lead.

To make the most of these meetings, always share the agenda upfront. This simple step requires that you have an agenda in the first place! Training your stakeholders to read and understand the agenda leads to more effective and focused discussions. After each meeting, recap the decisions made, action items, and the responsible parties to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Clustering meetings and setting aside large blocks of time for focused work can drastically reduce the time spent on meetings. This is crucial because, as Shreyas highlights, product managers often spend a disproportionate amount of their time in meetings.

Daily and Weekly Routines

To maintain control over your workload, establish a consistent review routine. Start your day by reviewing your meetings and defining the desired outcomes for each. This proactive approach ensures that you enter each meeting with a clear purpose.

Mark important emails and create filters to prioritize your inbox. The same principle applies to Slack channels—star the most crucial ones and mute the rest. Additionally, keep a close eye on your key metrics, dashboards, and alerts every day to stay informed about your product's performance.

Gathering information about new customers and reading user feedback should also become part of your daily routine. Consider incorporating this into your daily standup meetings to keep the team aligned on customer needs and feedback.

Intentional Calendar Management

Your calendar is more than just a tool for scheduling meetings—it's a reflection of your priorities. As Shreyas notes, "Your calendar speaks greater truth than your to-do list." To make the most of your time, create an intentional calendar that balances meetings, deep work blocks, and personal learning time.

Don't just schedule meetings; schedule your work as well. At the end of each day, plan the next one. Similarly, at the end of each week, plan the upcoming week. Limit unnecessary meetings and add blocks of time dedicated to focused work. This disciplined approach will help you maintain a balance between reactive tasks and proactive, high-impact work.

Leveraging Deep Work

Shreyas also emphasizes the importance of deep work—uninterrupted, focused time dedicated to complex tasks. Schedule "no meeting days" and deep work blocks when your energy is at its peak. Mute Slack and, if possible, change your location to minimize distractions.

The LNO Framework

Another valuable concept introduced is the LNO framework:

Leverage (10x): Activities that have a significant impact on your work.
Neutral (1x): Tasks that maintain the status quo.
Overhead (<1x): Low-impact tasks that can drain your time.

Prioritize activities that offer high leverage, minimize neutral tasks, and avoid overhead whenever possible. We already use this approach within our Product team.

Additional Resources

Shreyas recommends exploring "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield, which dives into the concept of resistance and how to overcome it. Additionally, the "Shitty First Draft" concept by Julian Shapiro is a powerful tool for overcoming perfectionism and getting your ideas out quickly.

By incorporating these habits into your daily and weekly routines, you can enhance your productivity, make better decisions, and ultimately become a more effective product manager. Remember, it's the small, consistent changes that lead to significant long-term results.

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[Notes] PM Habits Seminar: Get Shit Done by Shreyas Doshi