Focus like a PM
Overriding my engineering mindset
Hey all! We’re trying something new: guest posts. So that our community can share their learnings with you! Today it’s
‘s turn to do so. He started out in tech as a software engineer, and transition into product two years ago. His biggest struggle? Deciding what to focus on. Dive in to learn more about his challenge and how he tackled it.
Why do you need focus?
Product is an optimization game. For very feature built, there’s an infinity we’re choosing not to do. We can only beat the game by choosing well and iterating quickly. Lack of focus is the number one enemy here: it will kill your speed and your learning. Doing many things will slow you down and often lower your standards: if you allow yourself to build ten features instead of one, you may not think about them as much. More features will also make it harder to learn from outcomes. Even if you manage to deliver loads of things, you will not have a clear picture if you’re actually winning the optimization game.
My engineer-mind’s struggle
Focussing on the right thing requires (1) an understanding of available options, and (2) the ability to prioritize.
My first mistake was not *really* exploring my options. I didn’t go broad enough. As a former engineer, all I saw was the universe that we already had: the problems of the current tech stack and some potential, mostly incremental, improvements. I did not spend enough time researching other problems or directions that we could explore.
Another struggle was not being decisive enough. The engineer’s mind is careful and detail-oriented. Otherwise, planes would not survive turbulence and applications would crash after its first misuse. That’s exactly what made it hard for me to choose: I focused too much on the second-order tradeoffs between options. There were so many dimensions to compare, it made all options similarly good (or bad). If everything looks similar, all it takes is a convincing speech to turn the ship around. Obviously, a ship that changes direction often does not get very far.
Escaping the trap
I decided to do two things to escape this trap. The first was to carve out more time to do product discovery. The second to consciously work on becoming a better prioritizer.
A lot has been said about deep work and time management already (see 1, 2) so I will talk about the other big unlock for me: my prioritization method.
To focus, I needed confidence in my decisions. Not only for me, but also for my team and stakeholders.
I realized I had tackled the problem the wrong way. I realized I had tackled the problem the wrong way. I was comparing options against loads of dimensions. But what did our product really need to achieve? I tried a new approach, asking myself: how can we measure the success of our product with just one thing? If we had to maximize only one thing, what would it be?
Optimizing one single thing
I found out most decisions, deep down, can be boiled down to one single tradeoff. One metric measuring the impact you want to achieve.
Thinking about this “one metric” is hard, but that’s by design: it requires being brutal in prioritizing. This approach helps me center the attention on desired outcomes rather than on options. It forces me to ask myself: “what do I need?”, or “What does my product really need to achieve?”
Take career decisions as an example. How many times we decided based on the salary because it’s the easiest thing to compare? Is it the main thing you’re truly after though? How about flexibility, or learning the skills required to achieve your dreams? If you had to choose one: what would it be? Decide beforehand and you won’t hesitate.
My decision process
The process is very simple:
Discard unethical, unfeasible, unmaintainable, or too risky options
Measure all options against the prioritization criteria
Choose the one with the highest number
What single metric to optimize for?
My personal favorite -for revenue-focused products- is Cost of Delay (CoD). It measures what we lose—or fail to gain—by delaying a feature. For instance, a feature generating $10k/month has a CoD of $2.5k/week.
Uncertainty complicates this. To address it, I use the expected value formula, estimating potential outcomes and their probabilities.
In my role at Picnic, balancing diverse initiatives is crucial. CoD helps prioritize effectively. I compare the estimated CoD to the effort required, focusing on the highest ROI. The exact numbers aren’t critical— we’re looking for ballpark figures here.
This approach helps sharpen your focus and prevents distractions. Additionally it’s super clear and easy to communicate to stakeholders. When new ideas arise, translating them into CoD helps avoid the “shiny object” syndrome.
It also assesses impact. Are we moving the needle? If all ideas show similar impact, it’s time to explore broader opportunities.
True focus is hard. This method combats indecision. Try it and let me know how it works! 👋
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