The Complete List of Product Manager Tasks. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n
What influences a day in the life of a Product Manager?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve made it pretty clear that the average day in the life of a Product Manager will not be the same from one week to another or even from one day to another. But what are the reasons for this? Here\u2019s a look at some of the factors that can change what you\u2019re working on, and why your day may look so different to a Product Manager at another company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Product life cycle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Where you are in the Product life cycle<\/a> plays a massive part in shaping what your average day will look like, so you\u2019ll need to consider this when building your daily routine and schedule.\u00a0 Your sprint cycle<\/a> is going to dictate what you\u2019re working on daily, which really demonstrates how different your routine can be in a short space of time. The size of the company you\u2019re at and the product team structure<\/a> will play a part in what the day in the life of a Product Manager will look like. In a startup, you\u2019re going to wear more hats, and likely fulfill the role of a Scrum Master and Product Owner on top of your Product Manager responsibilities. This means you\u2019ll need to bleed those tasks into your daily and weekly schedule. The type of product you manage will impact the structure of your day. When in B2B, you\u2019ll spend more time meeting customers, conducting discovery calls, and working alongside Sales. If your product is B2C, your work may require more data analysis tasks, A\/B testing<\/a>, and using customer feedback loops<\/a>.\u00a0 When building your daily routine as a Product Manager, it\u2019s good practice to break it up into three distinct sections, allowing you to focus on different core areas throughout the day. These three sections are:\u00a0 The first part of your day should focus on connecting and communicating with your teams and internal stakeholders. Building a product is, at its core, a team sport, and you\u2019re acting as the captain. Your ability to collaborate is critical to moving things forward. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of communication needed from a Product Manager on a daily basis. Whether it\u2019s through checking emails, Slack messages, or whatever else, you need to be on hand to unblock issues and answer questions about what needs to be clarified.\u201d Once the morning\u2019s communication is done, it\u2019s time to get down to business with planning and executing key tasks. This is where you focus on the actual work that moves the product forward. By the end of the day, it\u2019s all about reflection and review. This is where you take a step back, review progress, and set yourself up for tomorrow. You\u2019re checking in on what\u2019s been done, what\u2019s left to do, and what needs adjusting. A day in the life of a Product Manager is split up into many different tasks, with their time broken up across multiple areas. To get a sense of what a PM spends most of their time on, McKinsey<\/a> created this graphic that demonstrates the time Product Managers spend on certain tasks, presented as a percentage: <\/p>\n\n\n\n With that understanding, here\u2019s a good schedule for a Product Manager to follow to make sure that you hit all the key tasks you need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To start the day before the coffee kicks in, it\u2019s good practice for a Product Manager to check through their communication channels, be it email, Slack, MS Teams or ProdPad. Based on the messages you get, you\u2019ll then be able to prioritize your day and answer team questions, unblocking the rest of your team and meeting their needs. Every day, you\u2019re going to be having a morning standup with your product crew. This is your first meeting of the day – there\u2019s going to be way more – that allows you to update your team and work out what everyone is working on. Following your standup, now may be a good time to have a more detailed dive with your engineering and design team to help discuss technical updates, blockers, and priorities. This is unlikely to be a daily meeting, perhaps something that you\u2019ll do weekly. \u201cMake sure to leverage and engage the rest of your team in these meetings. You\u2019re not there to have all the best answers but to actually ask the best questions and pull in the insights from the people around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Encourage your team to take accountability and talk about new technology they think you should be folding in, or if they\u2019ve seen a competitor do something new, or whatever else. This can be achieved by building an environment of psychological safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Janna Bastow, Co-founder of ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Every two weeks or so, you\u2019re going be having a meeting with your stakeholders. This is an opportunity to showcase your performance, demo any new features you\u2019re working on, and provide updates. This is a great meeting to gather feedback and ensure that everyone from the top to the bottom of your organization is informed and aligned on where the product is heading. \ud83d\udea8In this day in the life of a Product Manager example, this is the last meeting of the day, but in reality, you could be having a hell of a lot more. In fact, one of the most time-consuming aspects of the Product Manager role is communication and meetings. Some other meetings you may be involved in include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n No less than weekly, and likely twice a week, you\u2019ll sift through customer feedback and review what you\u2019ve learned to decide what recurring issues and ideas are worth adding to the product backlog. Not everything is urgent, but this is your chance to catch valuable insights that can improve the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou want to stay on top of feedback as Product Manager, as it can start to stack up if you leave it too long, turning a 30-minute task into a much bigger one. I usually do this twice a week to keep everything tidy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When reviewing feedback, there are different things you can do with it. If the feedback makes the problem clear, there\u2019s no need for further digging so you can add it to your backlog. This feedback could be a bug, and if so it\u2019s best to mark it as one and get a fix sorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes feedback can be fuzzy and needs further detail. If it came from a Support or Sales conversation, you can get extra context from them, or open up direct communication with the customer to learn more.\u201d A great way to easily find customer feedback that\u2019s worth working on is using the AI-powered Signals tool. This Feedback Management<\/a> feature in ProdPad means, instead of wading through every piece of feedback in your inbox, Signals can pull out the most common threads to give you a better sense of what\u2019s important. Try it for yourself in the ProdPad sandbox.<\/p>\n\n\n Get unlimited and forever access to the ProdPad sandbox<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Again, this isn\u2019t a daily Product Manager task but instead something you\u2019ll do monthly, but it was worth including in this example to illustrate that it\u2019s an important thing to do. Now\u2019s a good time as any to dig into your key performance indicators and metrics. How\u2019s your product doing? This is where you can check your AARRR (Pirate Metrics)<\/a> to see if activation and adoption rates<\/a> are going well and if anything seems off. Now\u2019s a good time to take a break and decompress. It\u2019s been a busy morning with meetings and research, but if you\u2019re like many other PMs you\u2019ve made your afternoon meeting free. This gives you focus time to shift to solo work and deep thinking time. Use your lunch hour to grab some food, obviously, and reset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Time to get back into the swing of things with some backlog refinement<\/a>. This can be either a daily or weekly task, depending on your preference, and is all about reviewing and cleaning up your backlog so that it\u2019s well-prioritized and includes well-optimized entries and user stories. It\u2019s essentially a fine-tuning of the roadmap and is part strategy, part organization, and totally necessary to keep everything moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ll probably be doing bits and pieces of backlog refinement on a daily basis but then there\u2019ll be bigger cycles that happen weekly or monthly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So daily, it\u2019ll be adding and removing or tweaking bits on the backlog but then weekly or monthly you\u2019ll do bigger sweeps and work on new stuff that\u2019s come in that\u2019ll need to be processed in a certain way. This is a solo task, but once a month or so, you may also want to hold a backlog refinement meeting with some wider team members to help align your backlog and ensure that it\u2019s in the best state possible. If you need a template for how to run this meeting, we have a backlog refinement meeting agenda template you can download below \ud83d\udd3d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re in the discovery phase of your product lifecycle, user research is something you\u2019ll be doing regularly. But even if not, it\u2019s still worth spending time learning more about your users, their needs, and how your current product can be improved to match their desires. \u201cCommon forms of user research include user testing and feedback sessions that you’ll jump into. These are set up by the Product Manager and conducted to gather feedback on any new features or prototypes that the team is designing. A recurring task would be to analyze the feedback and incorporate that into future iterations.\u201d This is definitely not a daily task – you don\u2019t want to be messing around with your roadmap that often – but it is a monthly responsibility that can be a task in the day in the life of a Product Manager. 8 Steps to Convert Your Timeline Roadmap to a Now-Next-Later<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Now, with some of the other tasks you\u2019ve done throughout the day, you\u2019re already going to be writing accompanying documents to support your research and work. Still, there\u2019s a lot more writing and creation to be done.\u00a0 \u201cDocument writing is essentially you recording your evidence, which backs up your decisions. A key part of a Product Manager\u2019s role is saying \u2018no\u2019, often to Executives above you and Salespeople who are lateral to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your documents are proof of why you\u2019re saying no, why you\u2019re turning down this potential feature over there because you know there\u2019s a more useful feature over here. It improves transparency and makes it easier to communicate your thought process and decisions. If you\u2019ve got direct reports, this weekly or monthly time is dedicated to supporting your team\u2019s development. Whether it\u2019s a 1-2-1 meeting, giving feedback, or setting goals, this is where the \u2018manager\u2019 in Product Manager gets emphasized as you put time away to help the rest of your team grow and ensure they have what they need to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On any given day, you may have a call lined up with potential clients or internal stakeholders to go through your product and showcase how it can benefit them. Spend the last 30 minutes reviewing today\u2019s progress and making a plan for tomorrow. Was there something important that you weren\u2019t able to get to? Are there new blockers for the morning standup? Reflect on the day and prepare for tomorrow so that you can hit the ground running. This reflection time ensures you start the next day prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Product Management, having a well-structured schedule is essential to balance the wide variety of tasks that come your way. However, as much as you might plan, the reality is that no two days are going to be the same. From shifting priorities to unexpected roadblocks, flexibility is a key trait of a Product Manager. The schedule outlined here captures the core activities Product Managers need to prioritize, but it\u2019s important to remain adaptable.
For example, when in the introduction stage, your work will revolve around trying to prove that your product deserves to exist. Here you\u2019ll be doing a lot of Product Discovery<\/a> tasks, filled with things like market research, potential customer interviews, and ideation sessions. Your day-to-day will be geared toward exploring your problem and validating ideas.\u00a0
But, if you\u2019re in the maturity stage, the focus will shift to innovating on the product you\u2019ve created. Things like competitor analysis, backlog refinement<\/a>, and working on your product price strategy will become a main priority.
However, it’s not just the stage of the PRODUCT life cycle that will influence a day in the life of a Product Manager. The Product Management life cycle plays a part too. Let me explain….
You have a life cycle for your product, and then within that, you have a life cycle for the Product Management work that goes into managing a product at each stage. For example, your product might be in the introduction phase of the product life cycle, but within that, you, as a Product Manager, could either be in the earliest stages of the product management life cycle, doing market and user research to undercover the problems to solve, or, you could be in the GTM phase, working with your Sales & Marketing Teams to get your early product to market. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nStage of the sprint<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When at the beginning of a sprint, your days may focus on backlog refinement and planning to ensure that everything is in order to kick off. Mid-sprint tasks will involve tracking progress and more communication with your teams as you unblock issues and organize your squad to deliver.
By the end of the sprint, your days will involve more retrospectives and planning as you wrap up and get prepared for the next cycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\nCompany size <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For larger organizations, the PM role could be more specialized. Depending on the need, you could be focusing more on strategy and working with stakeholders and less on the nitty-gritty of execution. <\/p>\n\n\n\nType of product<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Plus, if you work on a physical product, you may need to incorporate supply chain coordination and manufacturing timelines into your daily routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow is a day in the life of a Product Manager structured?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Communication and collaboration\u00a0
2. Planning and action\u00a0
3. Reflection and review<\/strong>
Here are more details on the tasks involved in each and why these core focus areas should take priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCommunication and Collaboration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What you do:<\/strong>
This is when you\u2019re in full meeting mode \u2013 talking with your core team, Development, Sales, Marketing, and Support. It\u2019s about keeping everyone aligned, getting critical feedback, and ensuring every department has what they need to succeed. You’ll host daily standups, sync with stakeholders, review demos, and answer questions. Essentially, you\u2019re the product glue.
Why you do it:<\/strong>
Good communication prevents misalignment. These check-ins ensure that no one is working in silos, and everyone is marching toward the same goals. It\u2019s also a chance to unblock any issues quickly and provide clarity. Regular communication with teams like sales or support helps you gather real-time feedback from customers, which is essential for product improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Janna Bastow, Co-founder of ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nPlanning and Action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What you do:<\/strong>
Here\u2019s where your planning and strategy hat comes on. You\u2019re reviewing KPIs, refining the product backlog, working on roadmaps, and making sure that your tasks match your priorities. It could also involve more analytical jobs, like reviewing user data, customer surveys, or usage trends, and working with teams to tweak the product accordingly. Essentially, you\u2019re laying out the path to make the product vision<\/a> a reality.
Why you do it:<\/strong>
Your day should have dedicated time for understanding how the product is performing, how customers are reacting, and where things are headed to give you insight on what to do next. Analyzing data ensures your next moves are rooted in evidence, not guesswork, while updating your backlog and roadmap keeps everyone aligned. This also includes refining user stories<\/a> and making decisions based on all the communication gathered earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReflection and Review<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What you do:<\/strong>
This time is about reviewing outcomes. Whether it\u2019s reflecting on a meeting\u2019s key takeaways, analyzing if today\u2019s tasks moved the needle, or updating documentation to capture new decisions, this time is crucial for course-correcting. You\u2019ll update roadmaps, tweak timelines, and record insights.
Why You do it:<\/strong>
Reflection allows you to close the loop on the day. It\u2019s your chance to fine-tune tomorrow\u2019s to-do list based on today\u2019s results, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. It\u2019s also where you set up the team for the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA typical day in the life of a Product Manager schedule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Common](\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Product-Management-Talent-Dilemma.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n8:30 AM – Inbox triage (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In a lot of cases, this early morning sort-out can dictate what your daily focus is. Found that customer feedback has uncovered an urgent issue? You\u2019ll have to be agile enough to adapt to it and set that as your main focus of the day.
Treat these opening 30 minutes like you\u2019re a traffic cop. By reviewing past communication and getting your ducks in a row, you\u2019ll ensure that things flow smoothly for the rest of your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n9:00 AM – Morning standup (15 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a great time to ensure that everyone\u2019s on the same page and is on the ball. Standups need to be snappy, there\u2019s a lot more communication ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n9:15 AM – Engineering team meeting (45 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In these meetings, you may have to steer things back on track if priorities are drifting off course. The goal of this meeting is to ensure that everyone\u2019s aligned, knows what they\u2019re doing and why they\u2019re doing it, and is in a good position to execute well for the upcoming week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n10:00 AM – Stakeholder meeting (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also a meeting where you can share your ideas from your product discovery and present where you want the product to go. Make sure you have evidence for this by documenting your learnings. This is another key task that will come into play later on in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
10:30 AM – Customer feedback management (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
– Kirsty Kearney-Greig<\/a>, Former Head of Product at ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n11:00 AM – Competitor research (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Competitor research is your monthly check-in with the competition. What features are they launching? How are they positioning their product? How does your product stack up? This isn\u2019t something you want to spend hours on. It\u2019s a quick exercise in keeping your product fresh and ahead of the curve without spending too long playing spy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n11:30 AM – Product health check (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This is a non-negotiable task: you need to be aware of your product\u2019s health and performance as a Product Manager, regardless of whether you do this weekly or daily. It gives you an opportunity to spot if things have gone wrong and make changes.
If you\u2019re unsure of the best KPIs to track, we\u2019ve got a list of the best ones in our eBook which you can download below \u2935\ufe0f:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"product](\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Product-KPIs-Blog-banner-1280x300-2-1024x240.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n12:00 PM – Lunch break (1 hour)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1:00 PM – Backlog refinement (30 minutes)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
– Janna Bastow, Co-founder of ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Backlog](\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Backlog-Refinement-Meeting-Agenda-Blogs-1024x240.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n1:30 PM – User research (1 hour)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
User research can include creating and reviewing user interviews, surveys, or watching session recordings. PMs can use this time to understand pain points and identify new opportunities for delighting users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Janna Bastow, Co-founder of ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n2:30 PM – Roadmap prioritization (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
During this time, you\u2019re making decisions on what features or tasks you\u2019re going to work on next, crafting your time horizons to get things done. By using all the previous research you\u2019ve done throughout the day, you\u2019ll be able to greenlight certain tasks, and push back others, or remove them entirely.
There are multiple ways to manage your roadmap, but we think adopting a Now-Next-Later<\/a> structure is best. Check out the article below to learn how to move from a timeline to a Now-Next Later Roadmap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n 3:00 PM – Document writing (30 Minutes)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Product Managers write a lot, and it\u2019s these documents that serve as the foundations and blueprints for product development and can also be used for internal communication. Some of the most common documents you\u2019ll be writing that you should put time aside for include:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
– Janna Bastow, Co-founder of ProdPad<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n3:30 PM – Line Management or Coaching (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4:00 PM – Demo & discovery calls (30 mins)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This weekly or monthly task involves demoing features, gathering feedback, and seeing how well the product resonates with its intended audience. This demo can help you convert new customers and also learn things about your product that you can then use to enhance it and make it better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n4:30 PM – Wrap-up (30 minutes)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
All in a day’s work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Each day, your focus may change based on the product life cycle, sprint stage, or company-specific needs. Heck, you may have a crisis land on your lap that you need to firefight. This guide gives a strong foundation, but it\u2019s important to build your routine in a way that suits your role.
As a Product Manager, you\u2019ll rely on several tools to help you manage this ever-changing environment. One tool we really feel we should mention is ProdPad \ud83d\ude09. ProdPad is designed to help Product Managers streamline their workflows and maximize efficiency. If you\u2019re looking for a way to stay on top of your tasks, try ProdPad for free and unlock its full potential to enhance your workday.<\/p>\n\n\n