Today, I’m going to show you a method that can help you get promoted faster, earn more, and finally get recognized for your impact as a product manager.

Not by working longer hours or by constantly talking about how busy you are. (Please stop doing that.)

But by doing less of what leadership ignores and more of what they actually value.

It’s a simple four-step approach that helped me go from backlog manager to director to executive and beyond, earning consistent pay rises along the way.

It’s called the LAZY Method.

See, many PMs are stuck.

They’re working hard. Shipping features. Running standups. Writing PRDs. Managing stakeholders. Putting out fires.

And yet… no promotion.

No meaningful pay bump. No real recognition.

Maybe this is you.

To understand why the LAZY Method works, and why it’s the fastest way up the career ladder, you first need to understand where most product managers go wrong.

And for that, let me show you a graph.

Imagine a simple two-axis graph.

Along the bottom (horizontal) axis is Work Effort — how hard you’re working. Your output. How much you’re doing.

Along the vertical axis is Visibility — not just whether your boss sees you, but how much leadership actually appreciates, values, and recognizes your contribution to the business.

You can plot almost any PM on this grid. Including yourself.

When I think back to the start of my career, I’d put myself far along the effort line. I was working hard, trying to prove myself.

But I wasn’t high on visibility. Leadership didn’t really see or care about my contribution.

That’s where a lot of PMs start. And, quite frankly, remain.

This grid divides into four zones.

Only one of them consistently accelerates your career. The others keep you stuck.

That’s what the LAZY Method is about — moving you to the zone that will get you promoted the fastest.

Bottom left.

Folks here aren’t really doing much. And no one sees it anyway.

People here don’t get promoted. They don’t get pay rises.

And eventually… they may not even keep their jobs.

This isn’t where most ambitious PMs are. But it’s important to name it.

Avoid this zone entirely.

Bottom right.

This is where many (most?) product managers live.

You’re grinding.

You’re working incredibly hard.

But, I hate to break it to you, leadership doesn't really value this type of contribution.

Mostly, they don't see it. Or, if they do, maybe they’ll give you a pat on the back.

But they won’t reward you with higher pay or a promotion.

This is the Burnout Zone.

And it can start to feel personal.

You’re doing great work. It’s just not the kind of work leadership recognizes and rewards.

So what do most PMs do next?

They either blame leadership (good luck with that)…

Or, they try to increase visibility.

Which moves them into…

Top right.

Now you’re not just working hard, you’re visible. You’re broadcasting wins. Looping leadership into everything.

Some people over-correct and start over-explaining every success.

You’ve seen this person. Maybe you’ve been this PM.

Yes, sometimes that visibility helps. But often, it comes across as needy. Like you’re trying too hard.

And over time, that hurts more than it helps. Because it still centers around effort.

You’re saying: “Look how much I’m doing.”

But leadership isn’t promoting based on volume of effort. They’re promoting based on leverage.

Which brings us to the zone that actually drives career growth.

Top left.

This is where promotions happen.

You’re visible. You’re respected. Your work is appreciated.

But you’re not grinding nonstop.

The difference is that you’re focused on the work that actually moves the business forward.

Even though you’re technically doing less, you appear:

That’s why it’s called the LAZY Method.

Not because you’re doing less work. But because you’re doing the right work.

So how do you move into this zone? Let’s walk through the four steps.

This step alone can save you years.

Imagine you’re deciding what move to watch on a Friday night.

You login your favorite streaming app. What’s the first thing you see?

You don’t see the raw footage, a list of the cast and crew, the production design, or the lighting setup.

You see:

Details about the cast, crew, and production are in the fine print.

Imagine if the streaming platform presented movies like this:

That could be any kind of movie.

You don’t choose a movie based on production effort. You choose based on the outcome you expect to experience.

If you don’t recognize the type of movie, you don’t watch it.

This is exactly how most PMs communicate their work. They present the raw footage:

That’s production effort.

Leadership doesn’t know what that means in business terms.

Instead, say:

See the difference?

One lists tasks. The other shows impact.

When promotion discussions happen, leaders are scrolling through the Netflix home screen.

If they can’t instantly understand the value you created, they move on.

Your job isn’t to report what you did. It’s to package what you did in a way that makes them think: “Yes! I want more of that.”

That increases visibility.

Now, visibility alone isn’t enough. It’s just the start.

Because if you just amplify work that isn’t aligned to what the business values, you drift into the Brag Zone.

Which brings us to step two.

In 2014, at age 33, tennis legend Roger Federer was widely considered “past his prime.”

Most analysts said the same thing:

The common belief was simple:

If performance is slipping, increase effort.

But Federer didn’t do that. Instead, he made a subtle but controversial change.

For most of his career, Federer had used a 90-square-inch racket head — smaller than most of his competitors. In 2014, he switched to a 97-square-inch racket.

Seven square inches. That was it.

To casual observers, it seemed trivial. To analysts, it looked cosmetic.

But it changed everything.

The larger racket head gave him:

And most importantly, it aligned with where he was in his career.

At 33, his body didn’t recover like it did at 23. Long grinding baseline rallies weren’t sustainable. He needed shorter points, cleaner winners, and less physical punishment.

So he aligned his equipment with that reality.

But he didn’t stop there.

He adjusted his footwork by fractions of a second.

Not dramatic changes. Just marginal refinements in timing and positioning.

He refined his serve. Not to make it faster, but to make it more precise. Placement over power. Efficiency over intensity.

Instead of trying to outwork younger players, he redesigned his system to work smarter.

And what happened?

He went on to win three more Grand Slams in his late 30s.

Not because he trained longer hours or out-grinded the field. But because he aligned his game with what winning required at that stage of his career.

Many PMs approach their careers the way commentators expected Federer to.

If growth slows…
Work harder.

If recognition isn’t coming…
Ship more features.

If promotion doesn’t happen…
Stay later. Take on more.

More effort.
More output.
More grind.

But effort without alignment rarely produces leverage.

If your contributions aren’t clearly aligned with what the business values — revenue growth, margin improvement, retention, risk reduction — you can work incredibly hard and still be overlooked.

You might be shipping lots of features, running flawless ceremonies, and managing stakeholders brilliantly. But if none of that is explicitly connected to business impact, leadership sees activity, not leverage.

Alignment means designing your work like Federer redesigned his game to better match reality.

You don’t just ask: “What can I do more of?”

You ask: “What actually moves the scoreboard?”

And then you align your effort there.

Alignment means framing your work in business terms. Use this structure:

Instead of: “I improved onboarding”…

Say: “I redesigned onboarding to increase activation by 12%, retaining $2 million in ARR, and reducing support tickets without increasing headcount.”

Instead of: “I launched five roadmap items”…

Say: “I increased expansion revenue by 8% while reducing implementation time for enterprise clients.”

Now you’re aligned with the language of leadership. And you don’t need a title to do this.

I’ve seen PMs double their compensation not because they suddenly worked harder, but because they reframed their work to make it clear how they contributed to what the business cared about.

But even in the Leverage Zone, you won’t be alone. There may only be two or three promotion spots each year.

So how do you stand out?

The Z in LAZY stands for Signal. (Yes, I know, but “LASY” looks weird.)

Think about a fitness trainer you follow online.

They post:

They’re not DM’ing you every week saying:

“Hire me now!”

They’re not aggressively pitching.

They’re signaling.

They’re consistently showing:

So when one day you decide: “Okay… I need to get serious about my health.”

Who comes to mind first?

The trainer who’s been quietly, consistently visible.

Not the one who showed up once asking for your credit card.

Your self-promotion works the same way.

Opportunities don’t appear often. They do when:

In that moment, leadership isn’t starting from scratch. They’re asking:

“Who already looks ready?”

You want leadership already thinking of you.

How?

By signal consistently.

That doesn’t mean walking into your manager’s office and saying: “Promote me right now!”

Instead, say:

That signals ambition without entitlement. Then periodically follow up:

“I took on that cross-functional initiative you suggested. Here’s what happened and what I learned.”

Now when a role opens up, they don’t ask: “Who looks ready?”

They ask: “When can you start?”

But there’s a trap here. Once you start getting visibility, it’s easy to overcompensate. You say yes to everything. You jump into every detail. You go back to trying to prove yourself.

And suddenly…

You’re back in the Burnout Zone.

Which brings us to the final step.

This one goes against everything most PMs have been taught.

When you’re trying to prove yourself, the instinct is to say yes. To everything.

But that’s a career killer.

When you’re involved in everything, you don’t look essential. You look junior.

The higher you go in product leadership, the less involved in the tactical work you are.

Yielding means:

When a task appears, don’t ask: “Can I do this?”

But: “What would someone at the next level do?”

Would they:

Yielding isn’t about doing less work. It’s about showing readiness.

Readiness means:

The PMs who rise fastest aren’t the ones doing the most. They’re doing the most of what matters.

To move into the Leverage Zone:

You don’t need to work longer hours. You don’t need to grind harder than everyone else. You don’t need to self-promote obnoxiously.

You need to move to the right quadrant.

Because pay raises and promotions don’t go to the busiest PM. They go to the PM who looks:

If you’re currently grinding in the Burnout Zone, you’re not failing. You’re just playing the wrong game.

So, shift the game. Move to leverage.

And when the next opportunity appears, you won’t be shouting for it.

You’ll already be the obvious choice.

That’s all for this week.

Have a joyful week, and, if you can, make it joyful for someone else too.

cheers,
shardul

Shardul Mehta
I ❤️ product managers.

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