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In my experience, the wave comes and goes. You'll have downtime but when it picks up, it's chaos. There's only so much you can plan ahead but push to loop in other stakeholders earlier on for a smoother process. Regarding overtime - unless you're being paid for or getting time off (not just verbal acknowledgement), don't kill yourself trying to catch up.
I think it depends on how your company staffs the role. I loved it when we had a good balance and a few products so I could focus (and yes it hits in waves), but when people left and they didn't backfill, there is no way to keep up. PM roles "own" products so you have a lot on your plate and the best advice I can give would be learn how to set expectations, define responsibility scope, and how to say no.
Very normal. I remember when I first started out in this role, I felt the same way. It took a while for me to figure out how to prioritize tasks and stay organized, but eventually I found a system that worked for me and I was able to get back on track. Don't be afraid to reach out to your peers or mentors for advice, as they can help you find solutions to the challenges you are facing.
Agreed! Most important activity is weekly distribution of dashboard / scoreboard /roadmap. So as resources / priorities change (last month user engagement/gamification and this month GenAI) you can have transparent conversations on dev resources/timelines / sales/marketing/training/incentives /trade offs. Otherwise most companies will understaff until you quit…
Completely normal
I would say it's unusual to not feel overwhelmed in your first few months as a PM, but it gets better. You just have to find you own systems and way of doing things
It waves up and down. I definitely have had times where I wanted to rip my hair out but that usually meant i needed to prioritize deliverables and not try to get everything done at once
It will get better, have patience. I understand the want to be flawless from the start, but it takes at least three months to establish a broad sense of what you want to achieve with the product, much alone give substantial value. I've just hit the four-month mark in my current assignment, and I feel like I'm just getting traction.
Yes! And yas