In my experience, it's shockingly difficult to stop consuming caffeine.
N of 1: I had a similar experience to the author. I was fine for a few weeks, slowly weening down my caffeine intake (I did get to zero eventually w/o headaches).
But I never felt quite "right." I always felt a little slow/sluggish, and I missed the routine. Perhaps work just isn't as interesting without caffeine?
Anyway, I'm back on it now, but I limit myself to one cup per day (and perhaps a second 1-2 days a week).
Thank you, and great point — another way I've heard it said by a friend/mentor is that "80% of PM is prioritization and communication". Where prioritization basically means "making good decisions on what gets prioritized".
To your second point: Ultimately, the PM and the people they work with (engineering, design, PMM, research, etc.), are a cross-functional team. The PM shouldn't just provide a list of what to build; the PM should help lead them towards figuring out what to build, collaboratively, together.
Completely agree. The PM is there to help the team figure out what to build, and help them succeed in building it. They can do this in a number of ways: Being an expert on the product is "must have", but they also need to know the market, the needs of users/customers, the metrics, and more.
I agree. In my opinion, over-communication is to help maintain alignment between people/teams/functions. It can't replace real, valuable work and results. Ideally, if the PM is a good communicator, execution is a lot smoother for every team (because the PM is carrying the alignment/communication burden).
N of 1: I had a similar experience to the author. I was fine for a few weeks, slowly weening down my caffeine intake (I did get to zero eventually w/o headaches).
But I never felt quite "right." I always felt a little slow/sluggish, and I missed the routine. Perhaps work just isn't as interesting without caffeine?
Anyway, I'm back on it now, but I limit myself to one cup per day (and perhaps a second 1-2 days a week).