How Many Hours Do Product Managers Work?

As someone with the career goal of becoming a Product Manager, it’s natural to have questions about the role’s day-to-day responsibilities. You probably already know that the position is cross-functional and complex so you may find yourself asking: How many hours do Product Managers work on an average day or week? How busy will I be if I become a Product Manager?

There’s no one size fits all answer to these questions as it depends on various factors like the kind of company you’ll work for and the type of product or service they offer. However, you still need some basic knowledge to help you know more about being a PM and if it’s a career path you’d want to take.

Use this guide to enlighten and educate yourself about how many hours Product Managers work. By the end, you’ll have a good idea of how many hours a PM puts into managing a product. We will tackle:

• Factors that affect a PM’s working hours
• What you can expect
• Work-Life Balance Tips
• Preparing to Become a Product Manager

Factors that Affect Working Hours

So, with that in mind, let’s dive into some of the factors that determine the number of hours worked by a Product Manager.

Company Type

This has a lot to do with how many hours you work. For the sake of this article, let’s compare the typical work schedule of a PM in a startup and an established tech company.

Startups are generally smaller companies, which means two things:

• You’re working with a small team, meaning you don’t have as much help.
• Everyone in the company is in the process of trying to figure things out, which can result in a lot of trial and error. 

So, if you work in a startup environment as a PM, you can expect to work somewhere in the range of 40 to 60 hours per week, depending on the company culture. This is merely an estimation but it’s something that you may want to consider when choosing which company to apply to.

Conversely, larger tech companies — such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft — are not nearly as intense as in the old days. Go back in time 10 or 15 years from now, and Product Managers at these companies generally worked more than 50 or 60 hours a week. 

However, as the landscape has changed, 40-hour work weeks are much more common. There are even companies with teams that work less than 40 hours a week. With shifting to remote work, it’s possible to encounter companies that only work for 32 hours a week. 

Note: No two days or weeks are the same in the life of a Product Manager. Just because you work 50 hours this week doesn’t mean you’ll do the same next week. You could find yourself working more or less, and there’s really no way of knowing what’s to come. Make sure you’re both prepared and flexible.

PM Type and Level

There are different types of PMs as well as levels in Product Management. For instance, you could be a Data Product Manager or a Technical Product Manager. As for the levels, you can be working as an Associate PM (APM) or you could be a Senior PM.

Definitely, the number of hours you work will be affected by these factors because each of the roles mentioned has different responsibilities. For example, because an Associate Product Manager is an entry-level position with mentors and fewer direct responsibilities, an APM could expect to work lesser hours than a Senior PM who may be managing a team or several teams.

How Big the Product Launch Is

If you’re working on a big product launch, you may be expected to work longer hours. Typically, if you work 40 hours per week, it could go up to 50-80 hours so that everything is ready before the launch.

The Typical Day of a Product Manager

Given that you already know the factors that could affect a PM’s working hours, you might be wondering what a typical day looks like when you are a Product Manager. 

It always helps to have a general idea of what to expect so we’ve listed the estimated time each task takes in a typical day for a Product Manager.

Here’s a brief breakdown of how a PM’s responsibilities could play out:

• Meet with stakeholders: 60 minutes
• Meet with engineering: 30 minutes
• Meet with the product design: 30 minutes
• Meet with users: 30 minutes
• Competitor review: 30 minutes
• Health metrics review: 15 minutes
• Review of product or feature release plans: 30 minutes
• Quality assurance (QA) testing: 30 minutes
• Meet with your product manager peers: 15 minutes
• Job interview tasks: 1 to 2 hours
• Communicating with team members: throughout the day

Please keep in mind that these are all estimates. One day you may find yourself in meetings 75% of the time, but the next could be focused largely on job interview-related tasks. Because the PM role is dynamic, no two days will be the same. 

If you would like to know more about a PM’s typical day, you can check out our article: The Typical Day of a Product Manager.

Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings

You have a lot on your plate as a Product Manager, but meetings will always take up a big portion of your day. As a general rule of thumb, expect to spend approximately half of your day in meetings. So, if a 10-hour workday is common, five of those hours will be in meetings with other team members. 

Even when you think you have all your meetings behind you, another one typically pops up. That’s because you’re in constant communication with other departments, such as engineering, product design, and marketing — just to name a few. You never know when the next bug, customer issue, new project, or release delay will call for your full attention. 

Note: some meetings are scheduled, while others come about on the fly. 

Communication

Communication goes hand in hand with meetings. Even if you’re not in a formal meeting — such as in a conference room or on a Zoom call — the success of your job depends on efficient communication with other team members. 

With remote work growing in popularity, Product Managers often communicate largely via email, Slack, phone, and even Loom videos. There will be times when you’re answering an email at the same time your Slack notifications are pinging.

Another consideration is that some people invited to the meeting may not be able to attend. Since it’s “your product,” you’re responsible for stepping in and making sure that all the applicable information is conveyed to the right people.

Other Tasks a PM Needs to Work on

Aside from attending and setting up several meetings, you’ll be expected to deliver the following every week:

• Keep stakeholders posted on everything (from ongoing tasks to how the product is progressing based on the product roadmap)
• Manage backlogs
• Review ongoing tasks as well as completed ones
• Onboarding material iterations
• Surveys and interviews of users

You’ll also have a monthly set of tasks as a Product Manager. There’s so much to do that you may have to prepare a monthly plan to give yourself an overview of the things that you need to work on and prioritize. Here is an example monthly to-do list to give you an idea:

• Planning where resources go
• OKR review
• Company alignment 
• Updating focus points (for product development) 
• Communicate updates to users 
• Product roadmap updating

Work-Life Balance Tips for Product Managers

It can be daunting to read about all the tasks a PM must do on the job. Also since you’re going to be the “owner” or “CEO” of the product, you could feel compelled to work long hours. Well, there is such a thing as work-life balance, especially for PMs who take on a more active role in product development. We have some tips for you to consider:

Set Realistic Goals

Set realistic goals for yourself and your team. More goals in a day don’t necessarily mean that you are productive. On the contrary, you could be setting goals that are too much for your team to handle in a day.

Leave your ego at the door when you’re goal-setting. The lesser the goals, the more focused and productive your team will be.

Zoom Out

Being a PM, you could feel that the pressure is on you. You’re accountable for the product’s success (or lack thereof) after all. If you feel the pressure creeping in, it’s good to take a break and zoom out.

Take a walk before going to the office or after you clock out. It’s a great and simple way to step back and take a breather.

Mentally Well-Rested

Most of us probably rest physically after work, which is the right thing to do. However, we also need to take mental rest. As much as you can, try to block out some me-time within your week or right before you go to bed.

Blocking out a specific time to work on your mental wellness is important to keep your mind sharp and focused.

Asking About Hours in a PM Interview

There is no shortage of questions to ask in a job interview. It’s best to come prepared, as asking questions shows your interest and a high level of engagement. It also allows you to learn more about the position.

Don’t be shy about asking: “What does the typical day of a product manager look like at your company?”

The answer will help you generate a better understanding of the job responsibilities and time commitment. 

Preparing to Become a Product Manager

If becoming a Product Manager is interesting for you, the next step for you to take after understanding how many hours PMs work is to prepare for your PM interview. If you’re on the hunt for your first (or next) PM job, we’re here to help. 

At PM Exercises, you will find a Product Manager interview prep course that contains the knowledge you need to master your PM interview skills. There are over 100 video hours plus more than 100 online lessons that will equip and make you feel more confident before your interview.

Along with the course, we have compiled over 2000 Product Manager interview questions with answers from our community. You can read and understand the PM interview questions and even practice answering some yourself.

Lastly, there’s a section where you can search for members of the community who are also willing to do a mock interview. After signing up, you simply add your profile, browse through others’ profiles and then click on the “Request Mock Interview” button when you have chosen your partner.

Final Thoughts

A day in the life of a product manager is best described in one word: busy.

Even though some days are more intense than others, every day is busy with meetings, communicating with team members, solving problems, and more. But that’s not a bad thing. 

When you’re busy, you have the power to make a bigger impact on the product you’re responsible for and the growth of the company as a whole.

FAQ

Is it stressful to be a Product Manager?

Not necessarily. The job may be challenging but good PMs will step up to the plate and tackle the challenge. 

PMs are also great at prioritizing tasks. It’s part of their job to ensure everyone is utilizing their time in the best way possible. As long as PMs keep track of all the things that need to be done and stay on top of it, being a Product Manager may not be that stressful.

What does a product manager do day to day?

Each day will be different. Most of the time, PMs will dedicate their hours to attending meetings and communicating with other teams. However, there will be instances where a PM might need to do interviews, interact with users, gather data, and so on. There’s really no set day for a Product Manager.