I caught myself staring blankly at my calendar this week, wondering how my days had filled up with so many things I didn’t actually want (or need) to be doing.

It reminded me of a poll I posted last week on LinkedIn — and the 17% of PMMs who admitted they “usually just say yes” when a request comes across their plate.

Saying yes is easy. It’s polite. It’s productive. It’s the path of least resistance when someone drops a new request in your lap and you don’t want to seem unhelpful, unavailable, or (god forbid) unstrategic.

But here’s the hard truth: If you say yes to everything, you’re not being strategic. You’re just busy. And busy PMMs don’t scale. They don’t lead. And they definitely don’t get to do their best, highest-impact work.

So today, let’s fix that.

The Strategic No

Before we talk about saying no, we need to talk about something else: your KPIs. Because if you don’t have clear, strategic KPIs — the kind that actually reflect the outcomes your team is here to drive — you’ll have no way to decide what’s worth doing.

A good KPI doesn’t just measure success. It creates clarity. It acts like a filter for your time, your team’s attention, and your ability to push back with confidence.

When someone asks, “Can you take this on?”, you want to be able to look at your roadmap and say, “This isn’t aligned to what we’re driving this quarter.” That’s not just a no. That’s a strategic no.

How to make the strategic "no" feel easier

The next time a new request shows up in your inbox or your Slack, try running it through this 3-part filter:

Does this tie to a PMM priority I’ve already committed to?
If it directly connects to a KPI, strategic pillar, or theme you’ve set, it’s probably worth considering. If it doesn’t, that’s a red flag. Having a clearly defined PMM roadmap makes this infinitely easier. It gives you an anchor to reference and a justification for saying, "This isn't a fit right now."

Will this meaningfully impact company goals?
Sometimes the work isn’t PMM-specific but it does meet an important business need. That’s a valid reason to say yes if there’s a clear tradeoff. If you're saying yes to this, what will you deprioritize? Strategic yeses are always accompanied by conscious nos.

Am I the right owner for this?
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. If the ask is a better fit for another team or teammate — then delegate instead. Part of growing as a PMM is recognizing what the highest leverage use of your time is.

If it’s not a yes on at least one of the three criteria above, in my opinion, that’s a no. Or at least a “not right now.”

The big mindset shift

Remember, PMMs shouldn’t say yes to every ask. Your priority is to drive impact. That means being clear on what matters, and brave enough to protect it.

This is where leadership really shows up. Not in being everywhere, doing everything, or saying yes to prove your worth (even when it feels tempting). But in carving out space to do the work that actually moves something.

The PMMs who master this go from reactive executors to trusted leaders. They get invited into conversations earlier, asked for input more often, and recognized not just for doing, but for deciding.

Even if they still stare blankly at their calendar sometimes.

CAMPER ESSENTIALS

📚 Reading List: This article on The Eisenhower Matrix will give you a simple way to separate the urgent from the important. Great to gut-check requests before they hijack your week.

🎧 Playlist: I cover 3 marketing psychology strategies that actually work in the latest episode of my series GTM Plays on the Marketing Millennials podcast.

Until next week,