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As a PM, I don't think remote can work for me. Any PMs who work remotely? Curious to your thoughts.

godot 7y ago
I work in a remote startup (and I agree with every point in this article, btw!), we have 3 product managers who are all very effective in their roles (I'm a dev, btw). IMO you just need to be an effective communicator in both written and spoken forms, be very thorough and observant, and follow these same sets of guidelines for remote (write down everything, build knowledge base, send out weekly notes, etc.), to perform well as a remote PM. On the other hand, if your organization is not remote to begin with, and most of the staff is in an office, a remote PM most likely would not be able to work out in such an org.
RandallBrown 7y ago
As a developer, 90% of interactions I have with PMs can be done asynchronously through a tool like JIRA, Slack, Email, Figma, etc. The other 10% of those could simply be phone calls or screen shares.
ghaff 7y ago
Not a PM myself but I know tons of PMs who work remotely--but in most if not all of those cases the engineering teams they're working with are some combination of remote (i.e. WFH) and distributed as well.
ohadron 7y ago
I am. It works great for me personally and for my team professionally. I function a bit more as a communication hub than I used to in previous non-remote roles, and I put much more stuff in writing than I used to. Remote work forces you to be way better with knowledge management, but honestly it clearly is just a best practice for any time that's big or about to grow.
PragmaticPulp 7y ago
Yes, I've held this role at an internationally distributed company. It's even harder across time zones, but it's doable. As a first step, work on weaning yourself off of synchronous communication wherever possible. Limit your synchronous communication to only the minimum necessary to operate efficiently. Create a routine of sending of ultra-concise weekly updates to the team. Your goal should be to produce reports that the teams actually enjoy reading. People should walk away from the reports feeling like they know what they need to know, what's expected of them for the week, when it's expected, and who to contact if any exceptions come up. The goal is no surprises, no hidden expectations, and visibility into the team goals. If people have to synchronously talk to you or wait for a specific meeting, work on improving the weekly update. Fill in the gaps with daily updates for any relevant changes. Work on collecting updates, summarizing, and sharing them at the same time every day for predictability. Don't get in the habit of pinging everyone every time you have a question. People will hate the constant distractions. Finally, carve out time for predictable, synchronous weekly meetings. Make it predictable, at the same time every week. Resist the urge to schedule spontaneous phone calls every time something comes up. Practice excellent meeting discipline, with an agenda shared ahead of time, careful attention on managing off-topic discussions, and so on.
ci5er 7y ago
It depends on the company, and how much "power" you have as a PM to influence/push process, but I find that even causing a majority on-site company operate as if they are fully remote is almost always a universal good. Writing things down and having documented (and followed) processes is good! And helps with onboarding as your knowledge-base grows, and (in my experience) costs a lot less that not everybody being around the watercooler when "that" conversation happened.

I work in a remote startup (and I agree with every point in this article, btw!), we have 3 product managers who are all very effective in their roles (I'm a dev, btw). IMO you just need to be an effective communicator in both written and spoken forms, be very thorough and observant, and follow these same sets of guidelines for remote (write down everything, build knowledge base, send out weekly notes, etc.), to perform well as a remote PM. On the other hand, if your organization is not remote to begin with, and most of the staff is in an office, a remote PM most likely would not be able to work out in such an org.

RandallBrown 7y ago

As a developer, 90% of interactions I have with PMs can be done asynchronously through a tool like JIRA, Slack, Email, Figma, etc. The other 10% of those could simply be phone calls or screen shares.

ghaff 7y ago

Not a PM myself but I know tons of PMs who work remotely--but in most if not all of those cases the engineering teams they're working with are some combination of remote (i.e. WFH) and distributed as well.

ohadron 7y ago

I am. It works great for me personally and for my team professionally. I function a bit more as a communication hub than I used to in previous non-remote roles, and I put much more stuff in writing than I used to. Remote work forces you to be way better with knowledge management, but honestly it clearly is just a best practice for any time that's big or about to grow.

PragmaticPulp 7y ago

Yes, I've held this role at an internationally distributed company. It's even harder across time zones, but it's doable. As a first step, work on weaning yourself off of synchronous communication wherever possible. Limit your synchronous communication to only the minimum necessary to operate efficiently. Create a routine of sending of ultra-concise weekly updates to the team. Your goal should be to produce reports that the teams actually enjoy reading. People should walk away from the reports feeling like they know what they need to know, what's expected of them for the week, when it's expected, and who to contact if any exceptions come up. The goal is no surprises, no hidden expectations, and visibility into the team goals. If people have to synchronously talk to you or wait for a specific meeting, work on improving the weekly update. Fill in the gaps with daily updates for any relevant changes. Work on collecting updates, summarizing, and sharing them at the same time every day for predictability. Don't get in the habit of pinging everyone every time you have a question. People will hate the constant distractions. Finally, carve out time for predictable, synchronous weekly meetings. Make it predictable, at the same time every week. Resist the urge to schedule spontaneous phone calls every time something comes up. Practice excellent meeting discipline, with an agenda shared ahead of time, careful attention on managing off-topic discussions, and so on.

ci5er 7y ago

It depends on the company, and how much "power" you have as a PM to influence/push process, but I find that even causing a majority on-site company operate as if they are fully remote is almost always a universal good. Writing things down and having documented (and followed) processes is good! And helps with onboarding as your knowledge-base grows, and (in my experience) costs a lot less that not everybody being around the watercooler when "that" conversation happened.