The document summarizes a presentation by Susan Threadgill on how to prioritize and own your time as a product manager. The presentation covers setting SMART goals, managing to-do lists by timeboxing and limiting items, avoiding hidden costs like unnecessary meetings and context switching, and saying "no" effectively to commitments that don't align with goals and priorities. The presentation provides examples and tips to help product managers focus their time on high-impact work.

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10. Susan Threadgill
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

11. How to Prioritize and Own Your
Time as a Product Manager
Susan Threadgill
May 30, 2019

12. About Susan
Product Manager with 6+ years of
experience at both early & late stage
startups and a Fortune 500 company
Passionate about building
autonomous teams with a culture
focused on cross-functional work, self
empowerment, and inclusivity
Obsessed with Agile, Scrum Master
Certified, and most importantly a
champion of a solid work/life balance

13. Agenda
How to Set Effective Goals
Prioritizing Your Time
The Hidden Cost of...
You Need to Say “No”
Q&A

14. How to Set Effective
Goals

15. Be SMART
Specific
● Be able to answer the 5 “W”s: What, Why, Who, Where, and Which
Measurable
● How will you know when you’ve achieved your goal?
Achievable
● Is this a realistic goal?
Relevant
● Does this really matter to you and your other goals?
Time bound
● When do you want to accomplish this goal by?
How to Set Effective Goals

16. SMART Examples:
1. I want to reduce the number of
customers cancelling their
subscriptions onsite by 10% by the
end of Q3 to help our company
increase average customer lifetime
value
How to Set Effective Goals
1. Prevent more customers from
cancelling
VS
Specific | Measurable | Achievable | Relevant | Time Based
2. Get in shape
2. I want to attend spin class at
least 3 times a week for the next 3
months so that I can increase my
endurance

17. Prioritizing Your Time

18. Managing Your To-Do List
1. Timebox yourself
a. Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly checklist items
2. Pick 3-5 things
a. Your to-do list should constantly be evolving
b. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many items
c. Ask yourself, “Do I really need to do this today?”
3. Review daily
a. Check off items as you accomplish them
b. Move items to the appropriate list as they become more
relevant
c. Don’t be afraid to re-prioritize!
Prioritizing Your Time

19. If everything is a priority then nothing is
1. High priority
a. Important and urgent
2. Medium priority
a. Important but not urgent
3. Low priority
a. Not important but urgent
i. If it’s not important why is it a priority?
b. Not important and not urgent
i. If it isn’t important and it’s not urgent does it
even belong on your to-do list?
Prioritizing Your Time

20. If you can’t explain the value then why are you doing it?
Prioritizing Your Time

21. No one is going to defend your time except for you
Prioritizing Your Time
1. Everyone has their own goals & priorities
2. These may be in direct conflict with yours
3. No one has insight into everything going on in
your day to day
4. We tend to think of ourselves first, and that’s
okay

22. The Hidden Costs of...

23. Meetings
The Hidden Costs of...

24. The Hidden Costs of...
Meetings
Does everyone invited need to be there?
Browsing
Reddit
Fell behind
5 slides
ago
Making dinner
plans with spouse
Debugging
an issue
Responding
to Slack
messages

25. The Hidden Costs of...
Meetings 1. Let’s assume everyone in the room is earning $50/hr
2. On average 5 out of 10 attendees are not contributing and/or not
paying attention
3. $250 per hour of money wasted
4. Just one weekly recurring meeting means you’ve wasted
$13,000/yr

26. The Hidden Costs of...
Meetings When are you even getting work done?

27. The Hidden Costs of...
Meetings Oh yeah….
Catching up on email
Creating
deck for
Monday
Updating
weekly
metrics
meeting
reports

28. Context Switching
The Hidden Costs of...
● Context switching is better known as
multitasking
● Originates from the computer science
term around allowing multiple
processes to share a single CPU
● Every switch in focus has a tangible
cost

29. Context Switching
The Hidden Costs of...
Would you do this to
your users?

31. Context Switching
The Hidden Costs of...
Then don’t do
it to yourself or
your team

32. You Need to Say “No”

33. Say “No” for Your Goals
1. Block your time
a. Create designated blocks in your calendar set aside for work
b. Firmly establish your working hours
2. Practice the “Right to decline”
a. Results matter more than being present at a meeting
3. Always ask “Is this driving value? Does this align with our business
needs?”
a. Don’t just ask yourself!
b. Encourage your team to ask you this too
You Need to Say “No”

34. Say “No” for Your Team
1. Set agreed upon expectations
a. Determine a ways of working that is best for your team
with your team
2. When you commit to something you’re also
committing your team
a. Saying yes to that 7th project doesn’t just impact your
workload
b. Focus on timelines not deadlines
3. Your team needs to trust you to use their time
and skills wisely
a. If you keep bringing them in when it’s a distraction or a
waste of their time you lose respect
b. Trust in the estimates you’re given and defend them to
others
You Need to Say “No”

35. You Need to Say “No”
Oh yeah….

36. Say “No” for You
1. Set communication expectations
a. It’s okay to say you prefer email over chat or a phone call
b. Tell people how quickly they can expect you to respond
2. Protect your time
a. If you a post work commitment block your calendar and
decline last minute requests
b. Allow yourself the room to take a lunch or leave early for that
work happy hour
3. You owe yourself a proper work/life balance
a. Days off are YOUR time, so focus on you
b. Establish if you’re on PTO then you are not going to be
available
c. Stop responding to emails on your vacation!
You Need to Say “No”

37. You Need to Say “No”
How To Say “No” Effectively
1. “No because…”
a. Many people don’t like hearing no because they’re not given
the context
b. Transparency & communication is critical to being able to
push back
2. “No but….”
a. Offer a different solution
3. “Let’s get it added to the backlog”
a. Demonstrates action on something, but doesn’t commit to a
delivery date

38. You Need to Say “No”
How To Say “No” Effectively cont.
1. “Is this higher priority than….?”
a. Forcing mechanism when pushing back on new requests or injections
b. Communicate impact on other roadmap items
2. “How does this relate to our goal to….?”
a. Keep the focus on the company or team goals
b. Forcing mechanism to ensure you’re only prioritizing items that are driving value
3. “Our Sprint has already started, but I can look into prioritizing this for next one.”
a. Use Sprint or Kanban structure as a blocker for injections
b. Demonstrates action, but doesn’t commit your team to something new without having a chance to
investigate it more thoroughly

39. About Susan Product Manager
with 6+ years of
experience at both
early & late stage
startups and a
Fortune 500
company
Passionate about building
autonomous teams with a culture
focused on cross-functional work,
self empowerment, and inclusivity
Obsessed with Agile,
Scrum Master
Certified, and most
importantly a
champion of a solid
work/life balance

40. Appendix
Reference Material:
1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/timfrancis/2017/06/12/the-real-cost-of-context-switching/#10649d882623
2. https://simpleprogrammer.com/context-switching/
3. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_91.htm
4. https://timemanagementninja.com/2010/03/the-5-best-ways-to-defend-your-time/
5. https://blog.teamwork.com/how-to-hit-your-individual-and-team-goals-in-2019/
6. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm
7. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/career-success/0/steps/21287

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