What does a Product Manager *actually* do? 3 ways I spend my time at work

Hello! In this video, I'm breaking how exactly how a Product Manager spends time and what work we do.
1. Meetings
2. Strategic Work (long term thinking)
3. Tactical Work
You can download the diagram here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/p... 😃
PS I was inspired to make this video after watching ‪@AnastasiaKVL‬’s video on product data scientist. I've taken alot of inspo from her format as it was so well articulated. See her awesomely Informative video here: • What does a Product Da...
Really hope this brings insight into this highly in-demand and challenging role!
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Topics discussed:
0:00 Intro
5:01 Meetings
5:35 Company meetings
6:30 1:1s
7:42 Engineering team meetings
8:42 Product meetings
10:13 Project meetings
10:46 Cross-functional meetings
11:46 Meeting tips
12:35 Strategic Work
12:59 Company priorities
13:30 Research
14:58 Socialising roadmap
15:27 Roadmap dependencies
16:04 Strategic thinking
16:38 Tactical Work
18:00 Product development lifecycle
18:38 Research
19:35 Requirements
20:46 Release plan
21:25 Product design
23:37 Development
25:27 Understanding technical solution and trade offs
27:31 Pre-launch activities
28:45 Customer management
30:47 Thanks for watching!
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/slow-m...
License code: LKYBKW1IQXVJBSYU

[@TheProductPup]

Hello all! After a staggering number of requests, I have FINALLY made the diagram in the video available for you to download. You can grab it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks Please leave a Gumroad rating if you can spare a minute :) Enjoy!

[@moviestar5883]

This is so much better than those who do "I wake up and get my coffee from Starbucks". This is legit a great insight.

[@TheProductPup]

starbucks - ew haha. Thanks for the feedback :)

[@baderalhousainy]

indeed

[@joannageorge4979]

😂

[@marwan.ux1]

@@TheProductPup what do u mean eww. how dare u lol

[@Berta999able]

What an incredible and structured overview of what PMs actually do on their day to day! As someone who is potentially considering to transition into PM I highly appreciate you taking the time to put this together! Thank you! 👑

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you so much for your comment - made my day :)

[@helas33]

30 minutes of valuable content with no wasted time. Super informative thank you!

[@AnhPhuong-jk8td]

Very concise and genuine. I am product manager and have gone through almost all of these apects but I'm kinda struggling when someone asking me what PM does, forget stuffs here and there, and end up give generic answers :) This video just maps out and organize everything so well and very close to actual works of PM.

[@ahsan9669]

So far the best explation of Product Management role on youtube, I was trying to make a decision on if i should switch to product management role or not. Trust me this video helped me alot.

[@baderalhousainy]

This is the first time I have taken notes from a video, I loved every aspect of this video, but this is not for everyone, I had to see it maybe three times to make sure I had captured everything. I am really surprised to see that I am heavily involved in meetings, I had to branch my meetings and have no time to focus on the other areas. really loved it. well done Anika.

[@honestkiddo]

This is the most detailed youtube video I’ve ever seen about the role of a product manager. Please please please make more videos at this level. And I don’t even understand how you create the youtube videos while doing that much

[@TheProductPup]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@Alex-kf4pl]

OMG!! i can't really over-stress how important and impactful your videos are to us out here. you are indeed a heavenly sent. Please just keep'em coming..

[@TheProductPup]

Spam replying to all your comments at once - thank you again!

[@Alex-kf4pl]

@@TheProductPup lol. Trust me, your channel has taught and saved me a lot. I don't even need to pay thousands of dollars for a PM Cert. One major thing I like about your channel it's that, you provide a detailed experience of the day-to-day life of a PM and hands-on experience. Especially for those who are still in the early stages of their professional career. Not many channels out there provide such a user experience. With your channel, I've been able to build a classic PRD and a product roadmap using google docs following your thought process and hands-on experience. For that reason, I appreciate your good work.💯

[@subarnachakraborty4962]

​@@Alex-kf4pl ❤❤

[@Lex_Marion]

pausing this video 30% in to tell you how incredible this is, especially in comparison where it feels like people are actually telling me NOTHING about the day to day. thank you, I really get it now and it makes me pretty excited for my upcoming interview

[@mojisolaog]

Found this video after 2years and it solved my beginner’s curiosity issues! Thanks Anika 🤗

[@vedaadnani25]

The first minute of your video felt like you were reading my thoughts aloud!! SO HELPFUL!!!

[@oksanareikina7703]

I really appreciate the details you share with us and the way you structure your videos! It’s extremely helpful (and interesting of course).

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you, I really appreciate the feedback - keeps me wanting to create more :))

[@rrog78]

Being a product manager myself for so many years I found it very helpful. Thank you!

[@preethih3166]

Absolutely power packed session..Got to know so many things in detail. Started taking notes and ended up writing every thing 😅

[@osazeeoghide4986]

Clear, practical, and easy-to-understand framework - (Strategic, Tactical, Meetings). Detailed delivery and very insightful. Thank you so much!

[@222ssandeep]

I am aspiring Product manager and find this video very insightful. Great work Anika!

[@crsytaltan]

omg thank you so much for this video, I find it super helpful and it feels like a 12 months course all consolidated into one! i am currently a PM at a startup and I often get so lost in work that I don't know which segment to work on first. thank you for drawing out this mindmap and allowing me to visualize how each part relates to each other and what I can do to improve my processes further. you are god-sent!!!

[@ondrejnovak4996]

Thanks so much for this video. I loved the mind map, such a brilliant way of explaining the workload and tasks of a PM. As someone wanting to change careers, I found this highly helpful. 😊

[@guruprabhu_39915]

Well very articulated bigger picture of Product management… thanks so much Anika!

[@diana_str]

Thank you Anika! Very insightful and helpful!

[@sskamble6758]

Thank you Anika. Was looking for such video

[@f454331]

i'm starting my career as a pm and this is so so so helpful! I got a lot of hands on experience on the "tactical" side of pm and have been able to do a great job. But I didn't get any mentorship or training on the strategy/roadmap and i was even straight up told that i'm not good at strategy which now I get it. I really should've ventured out on my own and learn from other pm experience and content rather than accepting what others claimed about me. Anyways, super super helpful and thanks for spending time on making this video!

[@joannageorge4979]

And thus says the absolute queen of product management! As a PM who just started out in this career, this video just made my day, week, and month! Thank you so much for the immense value. Found myself nodding, taking notes, and glad that I'm on the right track.

[@TheProductPup]

Wow thanks Joanna, really appreciate your comment and I’m glad to hear this was valuable for you! All the best with your Product journey

[@adityadabhade1419]

Amazing explanation! Thank you for making this♥️

[@brieflygorgeous_]

Amazing video! The most complete and enlightening video I’ve seen on the topic

[@mehabakshi5184]

I wish I watched this 6 months ago when starting my first role in product after switching from being an engineer - this was SO informative and well-articulated! Thank you for sharing!

[@TheProductPup]

I'm so glad this was helpful to you!

[@salonimadlani2065]

@mehabakshi5184 Hi , Even i am looking forward to change role from a developer to product manager. Would be really great , if we could connect for sometime. Help would be really appreciatd. Thanks. !

[@frankcoco1983]

Very detail and profession， will review over and over again. Thank u.

[@vidyadharvm4132]

Thank you so much Anika, really helpful to get an overall picture, appreciate it

[@rkthecrickey89]

this channel is worth subscribing. The best part about your videos is that i am able to easily mind map the information coz of the way it is presented. A lot of other channels struggle there. Keep sharing insights like these :)

[@TheProductPup]

thanks so much! Plan is definitely to keep sharing

[@saquibrafeeq5051]

Hey Hi Amika, Wow, such a wonderful compilation. Great explanation of flow of things and tasks done by product manager. Very helpful and beneficial. Appreciate taking out time and posting this here.

[@TheProductPup]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

[@alvingomez7079]

This is the most insane eye opener explanation of project management and software development. It only took you more than half an hour of my more than one month of online tutorial! Hats off to you madam. You have my utmost respect thank you much!

[@TheProductPup]

Thanks! I do hope you mean product mgmt though and not project mgmt 😄

[@ssssssss131ful]

You are great !! this will stand out for sure

[@bhumikabhatia3416]

Thank you for this explanation. It's super helpful!

[@carolheinzig666]

Great... fantastic overview of PM responsibilities

[@bhyuvmathur]

Thank you Anika, this is a fantastic framework! Could you please make a video on how a PM should approach research and the tools you would use. Cheers!

[@princewilladebayo1679]

Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! This is amazing! Concise and comprehensive. Thank you so much for this awesome and very useful video. You touched on everything in a very easy to understand way. I will keep going back to this video as I prepare for my transition into product management role.

[@TheProductPup]

Thanks for the lovely comment, wish you all the best for your preparation!

[@Ravikanth_007]

Very informative video, Thank you very much for taking time and doing this video.

[@joshcait6960]

Looking into PM roles - this was super helpful!!

[@santanagonsalves6461]

This is fantastic, thank you.

[@GDhaliwal10]

Brilliant video and super insightful!! Loving your content!

[@TheProductPup]

thanks so much!

[@ellanesiewlal7584]

wow what a video. I am so glad that I have come across this video. I am new to being a product owner, my department has never had one before either. And I feel like its blind leading the blind. When I saw that diagram I thought this is exactly my work life!

[@TheProductPup]

So happy to hear this!

[@jasonfoster-bey2601]

This is a truly great video! I love how well you covered key topics in an informative way. Thank you so much!

[@TheProductPup]

Glad it was helpful!

[@blacksilver17]

loved this!

[@kenivia]

Awesome! Thank you so much!

[@andrewhill5664]

Owning 5 to 6 unique products is insane. If you’re a Director of Product with ownership over a portfolio but have PMs running each product reporting to you then that makes sense. But 6 unique products as a PM doesn’t make sense. Do you mean owning 6 different scopes within a large platform?

[@productmanagementbyutsav3069]

thank you for the detailed explanation

[@sitapun1373]

Great explanation!!

[@ramyaram]

This is awesome!!.

[@realgilla108]

This is amazing. Like seriously!

[@TheProductPup]

I’m so glad to hear!

[@robinpuerta]

Thnk you very much for taking the time

[@HelloWorld-iu2cd]

I'm moving to a Product Manager role in a new company coming from an Application Development Manager Role. This video is so informative. Thank you for this! :-)

[@TheProductPup]

All the very best!

[@Rupschowdhury]

Hii wt u have done I mean course wt I have to do

[@mariowilson9002]

This is the kind of video which Title should be... "thank me later" :D A photo of your drawing is now with 5 of my PMs for 1 month (adjustments made to suit)... and surprise, now I have 20% more available time for the important stuff - just by getting them to see a clear path. Thank you

[@steam2277]

This is exactly what I needed...OMG

[@TheProductPup]

That makes me so happy

[@shikhagarg5849]

Very informative video, thank you. Can you please make a video on pre and post launch support by product manager

[@orzelskj]

Great video :). Thank you.

[@AnastasiaKVL]

Really nice explanation, happy to have served as an inspiration 😊

[@TheProductPup]

🥰 thank you for the comment and your videos!

[@venkatacharan1259]

Thank you mam. Its really helpful for me.

[@honeyisthatyou1]

Great content, thanks!

[@DFP79]

Very through and extremely informative. Thanks so much!

[@TheProductPup]

You're very welcome!

[@DavidKelleherArtist]

Well done Anika! Great video, really well presented. It would be great to see/understand a little more about how you put all of this into practice on the day-to-day Like, low level stuff here - what is your go-to tool kit for tracking and reporting on progress. Do you use any specific software solution like Confluence and Jira, or Trello or Monday, or simply a Google Doc!! Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of everything a PM is responsible for in one place and have the most up to date information at the tip of your fingers when asked about it in any given meeting. I tend to simply use pen and notepad but things can get messy easily and sometimes it can be hard to find the latest updates and information exactly when you need it.

[@xmjin3064]

Very impressive!

[@lifeisai]

Awesome video! Thanks

[@rajeevrawat304]

Amazing content!!

[@Luluscornerr]

Thank you very much for this insightful and detailed video. Well done 💯

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you so much!

[@vyongnhat4876]

I tried visily for product design in my m on going project, it does help convey my ideas with their screenshot to design feature

[@zakirshaikh7166]

Thanks Anika, This is a great video..

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@rukayyayusuf865]

This is very helpful, just started as a PM days ago.

[@TheProductPup]

Glad to hear :) Good luck!!!!

[@NdubisiOnuora]

Excellent video! Thanks!

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you!

[@ak16781]

Thanks for sharing

[@jezzzalenko]

This is really nice. Practical, well-structured, realistic... and without the Silicon Valley speak. 👌🏻 Thank you.

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you! 🙂

[@hoomanesteki4959]

Great video

[@denisejo10462]

New subscriber here. I am thinking about a career change from procurement to product management so this video was very helpful. Thanks!

[@TheProductPup]

Good luck for your transition!

[@Mark-gg8xx]

One of IF not the best overview

[@laralara5193]

Thank you.

[@dataman17]

Thank you for the video! Enlist the details perfectly to understand the role,

[@khaledelganzory8436]

Thanks for sharing this! I am a PM at a B2B SaaS Company and this is extremely relatable. Loved the Customer Management Part ♥. Can you share the Map you illustrated the tasks with if possible? 🙏🏻

[@TheProductPup]

I am putting it up on a medium article - will be up this week. I’ll comment back here when it is

[@a.e.churchill821]

Thank you so much for this.... it's very useful. Could you please share the screen of your illustration diagram as a file... it will be very useful to me

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@niranjanrajesh1058]

Hey i am a product marketer at a b2b saas startup, and i wanna become a PM. Any tips on how i should proceed, what exact skills i should develop? Would be great, thanks!

[@loicaigon]

Great video, thanks.

[@TheProductPup]

Glad you liked it!

[@vasupatel635]

That is really kool.

[@rupamagdy805]

Hi, this is a very useful video! Could you elaborate on how much (%) of time you spend on each of these big buckets. As a new PM I think the trap is to get sucked for far too long into one bucket and then do the others last minute. Would be helpful to know how you split among these activities

[@deepankartiwari8442]

Watching it around 1.20am Indian time, Thank you ma'am for such value exhaustive content, hope I just do good in placements 🙂🙂 Wish me good luck....(please)

[@TheProductPup]

Wishing you very good luck! You’ve created it for yourself by putting in the hard work 😊

[@Peacelover1234]

Thank you so much .this is very informative.I am BA looking to be a product manager..so interested in more detail

[@TheProductPup]

Great way to transition to product!

[@khushpreetsandhu9874]

Thank you for such a detailed video about a day as a PM, it has great insights. Can you share a reference to the diagram flow you were explaining? Thank you!

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@lahiruparanamana3442]

@TheProductPup - I work as a Product Owner - keen to hear how teams you've worked in the past divvy up PO and PM responsibilities. Thanks

[@santanagonsalves6461]

Thanks!

[@TheProductPup]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@Cloud_Professional]

❤ I like this video and I'm seeing all your videos, please share with us the document you used on the explaining

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@1roniya]

Hello, Anika Could you please advise me a program for illustrating as yours? Thank you! It was the best video I ever found

[@TheProductPup]

Sure thing! I am using Procreate with an ipad and apple pencil :)

[@mohanrajkalaivanan7326]

NO WORDS TO EXPLAIN, SIMPLY AWESOME!!! I am working on transitioning into PM role and this video and checked out all your content which are great helpful and planning to getting all of them in Gumroad. I would like to get mentorship from you, not sure you'll have time for it, if you have End-end course then I would like to take that as well. Please revert back.

[@amaaljama6983]

Such amazing content! Can you please share the map you illustrated?

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@19FizZ91]

Thank you for content! Super helpful Can anyone ellobrate What is the difference between product requirements and user stories that are then given to developers?

[@TheProductPup]

User stories are more granular than requirements and very user focussed - one requirement can have many stories. A requirement can also be functional (what the product will do) or non-functional (ie security, scalability). Stories are very focussed on what a user will do and their experience and task. Requirements are more high level.

[@MajDroid]

I might have missed but I think you forgot a very important ceremony/practice (Defect Triage Meeting) which i'm presuming should be part of the (Tactical) work

[@TheProductPup]

Interesting! I think everyone company and team probably runs a bit differently as my teams have never run a dedicated meeting to triage defects, but totally up to you and your team/product. We did these things asynchronously

[@BlancheFranken]

Amazing Video! Is there a place I can download the illustration used in the video? Thanks!

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@sammwangi7565]

Great video. I am a PM myself, i didn't hear you cover tracking the success of your released features, maybe it passed me. I am proposing you do a video of your Ipad and how it improves your day as a product manager. Let me know what you think

[@sammwangi7565]

Thinking of buying one

[@TheProductPup]

Oh my goodness - you are right, I didn't include metrics or KPIS! This should absolutely be in here, as part of product development and post launch monitoring. I think I mentioned monitoring customer adoption and usage, so metrics could also tie in to that. Honestly, there are probably a few other things I may have missed. Thanks so much for calling that out :)

[@TheProductPup]

On the ipad front, I don't really use it for work work (my job), so not sure I can do a video justice. I use it more for startup content creation :) but I love it, especially with the apple pen! So depends what you want to use it for.

[@sammwangi7565]

@@TheProductPup I'd still love to see you do a video of it if it's tied to what your audience like. I feel it was super helpful and it structured everything you explained so well. Otherwise amazing content

[@Ccccc-mi3tr]

This was amazing. Is there a pdf version of the map i can download?

[@TheProductPup]

I am uploading it to a Medium article - will share link when its up this week :)

[@a_noelle8595]

​@@TheProductPup I checked for the link. Can you reshare it?

[@TheProductPup]

Finally got around to this... You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@Homeybadgers]

I struggle with building a roadmap based on company priorities which are consumer facing and I'm an infra and platform PM. Any advice?

[@TheProductPup]

Love this question, internal products tend to get sheltered behind customer facing products. I have worked on a Platform team, which built for both internal teams and customers. I’ve also seen infrastructure teams not Product leadership at all. I think internal product priorities should be based on customer facing priorities though. So, if you are not directly mentioned in company priorities, think about how you can enable and support the teams and products that building for customers. Also, those external facing product teams should come to you to help you with their needs which should help determine your priorities.

[@paoladiaz9750]

Can you please share the map you illustrate? Love the content.

[@TheProductPup]

Emailed you back :)

[@maddym8437]

@@TheProductPup Not just great content but brilliant content delivery. People are good with content but delivering the content is a great quality. Could I please request if you can share the content please? Thanks much in advance!

[@alter388]

Unless the product is small, attending the scrum meetings is best left to the product owner. A PM simply does not have the bandwidth to spend time on all those meetings.

[@TheProductPup]

I don't consider there to be much of a difference between PO and PM, most companies just have one or the other. But I agree, that you should consider what is the most valuable use of your time and don't just attend meetings because they exist

[@dmitriylatukhin7356]

Scrum meetings are better delegate to Scrum Master (maybe except Planning and Sprint Demo). Product Manager (or Product Owner, same role in the most of companies) could visit Retro and Daily meetings from time to time, but it is not necessary.

[@user-bm8di8in2j]

Very insightful... Can you please share the map

[@TheProductPup]

You can download it here: theproductpup.gumroad.com/l/productmanagertasks 😃

[@user-jw4xy2vk4v]

I understand that sketches may not always be the most effective way to convey our ideas. I'm currently researching wireframe tools to use. My professor recommended tons. But choice paralysis is true! Any ideas?

[@TheProductPup]

Are you referring to a Product Manager communicating ideas to a Product Designer? If so, I'd say keep it simple and use paper and pen. A PM shouldn't be designing (even though times you might have to if you work in a tiny startup) I love Figma for all things design though

[@user-nr5zh8vf1i]

I often use Visily I since I don't have a lot of time to learn new design-focused tools. I could design with the help of UI templates and the screenshot to wireframe feature

[@user-jw4xy2vk4v]

@@TheProductPup sure, i'll keep that in mind, i'm using pen and paper anw but i'll take a look at your rec, thanks a lot

[@user-jw4xy2vk4v]

@@user-nr5zh8vf1i thanks, i'll take a look

[@bruunm1975]

This is super helpful. I am potentially jumping company who might create a PM role for me... What is your background, if you dont mind me asking?

[@bruunm1975]

Also which iPad app are you using?

[@TheProductPup]

Its Procreate

[@bruunm1975]

@@TheProductPup oh I never thought about using procreate for notes. Thanks.