How to stay motivated as a Product Manager 🔥

It’s not always easy to stay motivated as a product manager (PM)— so let’s learn how we can sustain it for the long-run 🏃!

With the product management discipline growing more popular than ever, there’s little reason to argue against its growth. More organizations across both tech and non-tech environments are seeking strong PMs to help manage stakeholders, drive product success, and own responsibility for the roadmap. It’s both a lucrative and inspiring role that shines a spotlight on someone in a way no other job can.

PMs are always expected to demonstrate strong energy from the get-go after they join a team; if the product and problem space is a good fit, they’re naturally inclined to demonstrate a strong motivating drive.

It’s not difficult for great product managers to feel energized about their work, especially in the face of success. But that’s not always the case; some PMs lose some of that motivation after a while due to many factors, so instead of pin pointing on the causes, let’s dig into four suggestions to ensure the spark is never lost.

💬 Both you and your team must stay engaged with each other.

Product management by nature involves building relationships with a multitude of parties. Imagine a single person having to empathize with so many different individuals and dependencies; it’s no wonder PMs are known as perennial stakeholder managers with seemingly infinite energy.

But while engaging with all parties can appear important, PMs must focus their energy on the engagement they have with their closest functions. These most likely consist of your main developers, engineering manager, boss, designer, and marketer.

Strong engagement doesn’t just mean clear and constant communication. It also entails a sense of trust that underpins the relationship you have with each of them. For example, if an executive or an external customer asked for a feature that your team deems unfeasible, your developers shouldn’t be afraid to raise this with you privately or in a group setting. The PM should also feel comfortable enough to ask stupid questions, such as “Why?” and “Here are some alternatives, what do you think?” and continue the conversation in an engaging matter.

It’s really these small nuances that truly uplifts the motivation of a PM — if you don’t stay in constant communication and maintain strong relationships with everyone, things start to deteriorate. For example, you may feel you’re less involved in decision-making, unimportant, or you’ve lost the trust of your team members, which could spiral into further lifelessness. Maintain a strong sense of trust among your team by demonstrating your product thinking (using frameworks or listening to users during development), and by telling the full story of each feature request (Who is the customer? Why is the ROI high?) end-to-end.

Stay engaged, maintain strong relationships, and earn your team’s trust.

➕ Recognize how you bring value.

Delivering impact and value as a PM and the battle against imposter’s syndrome is a tale as old as time.

I wrote a whole article about the challenges PM face when it comes to the syndrome. Read it if you can. For those who know about the syndrome: to be quite frank — and this may come out as subjective — I think the true value a PM brings to the table correlates with their motivation. Here’s why.

True positive impact can be hard to realize as a PM since we usually don’t code or design. I’ve asked myself this constantly: “Well, then what am I doing here and why? Where is the impact that justifies my salary?”

The answer lies in the small nuanced bits of value that strong PMs absolutely bring to a team, which pay dividends down the road. This consists of bringing clarity among stakeholders, driving product direction through a roadmap and clear strategy documentation, prioritizing all feature requests for the team, and building strong relationships with the end customers too. Not to mention the blogs, educational content, newsletters, emails, and internal/external forms of evangelism that a PM can help with to drive product growth.

Besides product and business success, once a PM can fully recognize everything they bring to the table, they can grow more energized and motivated. They’ll know exactly what tangible value they provide, and how they stand out as unique employees in an otherwise smart and hardworking team of developers.

Recognize your own value as a PM. Understanding the value of your PM skills will result in a symbiotic relationship that grows your motivation.

🧑‍💼 It’s not about the company, it’s about your boss

I’m concluding this article with a last tidbit that isn’t exactly pretty but real: A PM could land their dream tech job at their dream company or industry, but if they have a boss that doesn’t care about them at all, that experience goes down the trash bin faster than a trash chute.

In my upcoming book about how young knowledge workers can combine passion with sustainable work, I’ll be highlighting the importance of a good boss as one of the key factors. As common sense as it is, readers can still learn a thing or two as I dive deeper.

I’ve been lucky enough myself to work with managers who care both about my experience and development as well as the business. But I’ve chatted with those who weren’t so lucky, and my hunch is correct: staying motivated as a PM really hinges on that PM-boss relationship.

Before you jump into any PM role, make sure to ask the hiring manager (or whoever you’ll be reporting to) these set of questions:

• What type of culture do you have to ensure your team stays energized?

• What does a strong PM look like to you, and do you think the team can set them up for success?

• Are you able to make time for weekly 1:1s, not just for business progress, but also for career mentorship? If not for the latter, would you be able to assign me a mentor?

🤗 Take responsibility in seeking mentorship.

I’m alluding to the value of mentorship in that last bullet; having a strong PM mentor in your company can make an enormous difference. You can ask them the stupidest questions, but you can also rely on them for political and management support. It acts like a home phone in most households: often nearby and attainable, but seldom used to launch a fulfilling career.

If you’re a current or aspiring techie and looking for some mentorship, I recommend Merit. It’s free and it allows you to seek the perfect mentor profile that fits your needs the best. I’ve used it as a mentor, and I’ve seen some great reviews from fellow mentees (not talking about myself but for other mentors, obviously :P)

Build a strong relationship with your boss, and seek mentorship!

🤜 🤛 Conclusion

Aspiring product managers grow energized by the product role when they learn about the opportunity to see their idea get built from start to finish.

All in all, it’s really about four key aspects: finding the right environment, staying engaged with communication and trust, working with a boss that cares about you, and keeping yourself responsible for your own motivation through mentorship or finding a better fit elsewhere.

You could be a strong PM with a strong foundational skillset, but still lose motivation due to various factors I mentioned or even missed. On the flip side, you could be a relatively new PM but achieve success faster or more easily because you’ve been set up well for it within your environment. Both can happen, and it’s important to ensure PMs stay motivated and respond/act accordingly if they realize they’re losing motivation.

Keep that drive up, and your product success will reflect it!

About Me

My name is Kasey Fu. I’m passionate about writing, technology, AI, gaming, and storytelling 😁.

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