Hi everyone! I’ve been thinking about getting into product management and started researching different certification programs. I noticed a lot of posts here mention that the Google PM cert might not be worth it, which has me confused about which direction to go.
I’m curious about what the actual day-to-day work involves. Is it really just back-to-back meetings all day long? Do product managers get any quiet time to focus on individual tasks? I’d love to hear about your real experiences with the role before I commit to any training program.
Been doing this for 3 years. Honestly? It’s all over the place. Some mornings I spend 2 hours digging into user analytics trying to figure out why conversion dropped, then suddenly I’m in crisis mode because engineering found a blocker. About 60% meetings, but they’re not all useless - mostly coordination with different teams. Quiet focus time exists, just gotta protect it. Block your calendar religiously or you’ll never get strategic thinking done. Way more firefighting than those fancy PM blogs make it sound!
Oh you sweet summer child… Yeah, it’s meetings about meetings, writing docs no one reads, and explaining why feature X can’t be built overnight. Between all that, you get maybe 30 minutes for actual strategy before someone hits you with a ‘quick question’ that becomes an hour-long rabbit hole. The Google cert? Save your money - real PM work is nothing like those clean case studies.
The daily routine of a Product Manager can vary significantly based on the company’s size and the product’s development stage. In larger firms, meetings might consume about 40-50% of your time with various stakeholders, including engineering and design teams. However, there are also ample opportunities for focused work, such as analyzing user data, competitor research, and drafting product requirements. Personally, I find early mornings and late afternoons to be the best times for deep work, as those hours tend to be quieter. Junior PMs typically engage more in hands-on tasks, while senior PMs may focus on strategic discussions. The perception that PMs are always in meetings is not entirely accurate; effective PMs make it a priority to schedule time for analyzing user feedback and planning product roadmaps. If you’re considering a PM role, I recommend shadowing PMs from different organizations to understand the diverse experiences and responsibilities the role entails.
Product management isn’t just endless meetings like most people think. Yeah, you’ll spend a lot of time coordinating with different teams, but good PMs figure out how to balance that with focused solo work. When things quiet down, you’re analyzing markets, going through customer interviews, and planning your roadmap. The best part? Taking messy user feedback and turning it into clear specs for engineers, then watching your ideas actually ship. Skip the certifications for now - just talk to PMs at different companies. You’ll get real insights into what the job’s actually like and figure out if it’s right for you.
Really exciting role! PM at a mid-size company - the balance is actually perfect. I split time between strategic planning and hands-on problem solving. Sure, coordination eats up time, but watching features go live makes it all worth it!
depends on your company tbh. startup PM here - mornings I review metrics and user feedback, afternoons I’m in eng standups and design reviews. yeah there’s meetings but not the nightmare people make it out to be. I actually love the variety - one minute I’m debugging a feature issue, next I’m sketching wireframes. just block out focus time or you’ll go crazy