i’ve been a PM at a mid-sized tech company for 2 years and the ‘always-on’ expectation is burning me out. i’ve tried calendar blocking and email autoresponders, but stakeholders still message me at 9pm expecting same-day replies. heard some FAANG PMs in AMAs talk about ‘strategic unavailability’ tactics – anyone implemented these successfully without backlash? what’s your go-to phrase or protocol for protecting personal time while keeping stakeholders happy?
boundaries? in pm roles? good luck. i tried the whole ‘setting clear expectations’ thing once. ceo called it ‘adorable.’ best you’ll get is turning off slack notifications and pretending your phone died. pro tip: schedule emails to send at 7am so they think you’re up grinding anyway. works 60% of the time.
following for tips!! my lead keeps pinging me post-midnight abt jira tickets 
tried the ‘family time’ excuse once but they asked if i could ‘family time after the launch’ lol pls help
Three strategies that worked for me: 1) Proactively communicate your ‘focus hours’ during standups, 2) Template responses for common after-hours asks (‘Let me review this first thing tomorrow’), 3) Build redundancy by identifying a delegate for urgent off-hours decisions. It takes 6-8 weeks of consistency for stakeholders to adapt.
You’ve got this! Small wins matter – maybe start with one no-response evening per week? Celebrate progress! 
Last year i started adding ‘deep work blocks’ in my calendar as meetings called ‘CEO Strategy Alignment Time.’ Sounds fancy, right? Turns out even directors won’t override that label. Bought me 3 guilt-free evenings/week until some smart aleck asked which CEO…
2023 PM Workload Survey showed 68% of respondents who implemented formal SLA docs reduced after-hours requests by 40%+. Key elements: Response time expectations per priority level, escalation paths, and quarterly reviews. Example framework attached.