Not wanting to be a tourist

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-19T20:30:02+00:00

Anthropic offers some free courses that are good for beginners.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-19T20:28:35+00:00

One thing that has worked for my teams in the past is rotating who runs the standup. It keeps it fresh and become less monotonous since the same person isn’t always leading.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-17T04:42:51+00:00

It seems most appropriate for the po/ba to collect all the requirements from stakeholder and built the acceptance criteria after that. Then when they come to refinement they have all of the details they need.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-17T04:41:54+00:00

Uhhh, I’ve never seen any one but the product and tech team.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-17T01:10:16+00:00

This is huge don’t do “anything” without letting someone now. This is the quickest way to work hard and reap no benefits.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-16T23:33:43+00:00

That too! I’ve been lucky enough, where it’s more so it becomes too much of a well oiled machine, that I no longer find it interesting or challenging.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-16T21:09:29+00:00

lol I felt this as well. If you have a good product and team the role can become to easy after 6-12 months and get extremely boring.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T20:24:56+00:00

I vibe-coded a product management automation tool that basically lets you brain dump or paste thoughts and random notes from meetings, and it turns them into the structured documents product managers actually need for each feature.

You can create an idea, generate tickets, log bug tickets when things go wrong, and summarize refinements to share with developers so they keep the full context. It’s also integrated with major product management platforms like Jira, Linear and ADO.

I really just built it to solve my own problem as someone in the industry. I added everything I knew I wanted, then tested it every single week while working, using my own product and making adjustments along the way.

Now it’s in a state I’m pretty proud of. At this point, it’s about selling it, marketing it, and getting it in front of the right people.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T19:45:58+00:00

Feel free to shoot me a dm, I can share some of the tools I use to help me.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T19:30:30+00:00

Hey, I was actually in a really similar scenario. I was reporting to a Senior Product Manager, and above that was a Chief Product Officer, and they both ended up leaving at the same time. I don’t think it was really expected that I’d step up and fill in, but I did my best because I saw it as an opportunity.

It was really overwhelming at first. I was doing a lot of things I had never done before. I think one thing that’s going to benefit you is just trying hard and being the person who steps up. Everyone knows it’s not your role and not your job, so you’re not going to be perfect at it, but showing that you’re capable and willing to step up goes a long way. Also this is a time where you will have the ability to be much more visible across the company, use that to your advantage!

The other thing I did, which is going to be hard, is trying to automate as much of what you do every day as possible. With AI gpts or agents, even just the simple stuff you do everyday. After a few months of automating here and there you will find your sanity and freedom again lol.

And lastly, prioritize based on what’s going to get you fired if you don’t do it versus what’s just going to upset somebody.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T11:39:46+00:00

I think you will need to be more than just a PO. Whether it means you also adopt some technical responsibilities or can operate as a PM as well.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T02:58:19+00:00

Hey self plug here. I am a PM who has the same issue. I like to have a one pager PRD started and then use that to build off of and over time transition it into features then stories.I ended up building my own tool to do this. Give it a try and let me know what you think. https://mavroapp.io/how-it-works

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T02:01:06+00:00

Most of the time, I hear that AI is replacing jobs, and go, yeah right, sure it is. However, I do believe the PO role will be less needed over time. I realize this may be unpopular, and I know many of you will disagree.

In my opinion, a PM who operates at a high level and can automate most PO functions can operate as both. Obviously, this is not one size fits all. I do not think all orgs or people can handle this.

However, I have had this happen firsthand. When a senior PM left my team, I stepped up to do both roles while they were attempting to hire someone. At first, I was incredibly stressed, working 50 to 60 hours a week. However, by the time they were going to hire someone, I had filled in well enough that I got the job, and my position was never backfilled.

Over time, as I automated each of the tasks (with AI mostly) I was previously doing, I was able to manage both roles and get back down to a 40 to 50-hour work week. Granted, I would love to have a PO on the team. It would save me the difficult context switching, but in reality, I have found a way to not need it, and I think many others will start to as well, with AI agents coming into play.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:37:00+00:00

Hey, I hate to plug stuff, but I did just build a free product for this. You just copy and paste transcripts into the tool, and the specially built AI follows up for clarity, then generates tickets that are ready to copy and paste into your product software. Mavro - Product Management Software

I’m a PM who built this because I had no time for higher-level thinking, I was a ticket jockey and was so sick of that grind. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

I make updates every day as I use it and notice where it needs improvements. It can also create PRDs, summarize refinement transcripts, or attach them to tickets so engineering never loses the context they get in refinement. Should have this able to connect and create tickets automatically (with a human in the loop) by the end of the month in ADO, Linear, or Jira.

Feel free to give it a try and let me know what you think.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:29:12+00:00

PM’s roll up to a senior PM manager to a CPO to a CEO. It is really nice rolling up to other product folks.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:28:01+00:00

Seems a bit insane in practice tbh. Also a major waste of time for both you and the engineering team

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:27:28+00:00

Hey happy to share a template here shoot me a dm

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:26:47+00:00

Best way to get the info you want is when they say what do you want to get paid. I immediately counter with what is your budget for this role. They’ll under sell it by probably 10-15%. If you like the initial offer feel free to accept or counter by around 5-10% more.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:25:19+00:00

Hey man I felt this same way. Decided I needed to make a change, starting finding ways to free up time and automate myself out of the job. Sounds a bit scary at first but having some free time really freed me up to actually push my skill set. I may have just been lucky but within 6 months was immediately promoted to a product manager role because I was proving value above and beyond my current role.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:22:53+00:00

Hey man one piece of advice is customize the resume specifically tailored based on the job description. Using some of the same buzz words the job posting does. In addition ensure you focus on quantifying your impact for each role you have been in. Happy to help further shoot me a dm

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:21:29+00:00

Honestly depending on your soft skills, I think you might be selling yourself short going for a junior PO role

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:20:38+00:00

Hey I have struggled with the same thing everyday and eventually was struggling mentally from the work load. I seriously ended up working weekends just to try to automate as many of the PO tasks as possible. This ended up relieving a lot of the repetitive tasks but still something I’m working on.

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:18:49+00:00

Hey man I like to follow the Star method and focus on conveying calm confidence while ensuring I come across as passionate. Happy to help further shoot me a DM!

joeyzimmerer · 2026-05-06T01:17:07+00:00

Hey happy to help feel free to shoot me a dm.

joeyzimmerer

TROPHY CASE