Chaotic Work Environments.

How to make sense (and progress) in the midst of chaos at work.

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A product marketer’s guide to harnessing chaos in the workplace

By: Daniella Latham

As a product marketer who’s experienced the full spectrum of chaos in a workplace - from being the tenth employee at a tiny EdTech startup to joining a thriving SaaS organization working on emerging products, I’ve gained some key insights.

It’s a common misconception that chaos only exists in startups or small businesses. Whilst it typically crops up more frequently in fast-paced environments, it can happen in any type of organization, so it’s best to learn how to handle it.

Along the way, I’ve found that chaos can be a powerful drive for professional growth, provided you channel it in a way that benefits you.

How do chaotic workplaces manifest?

Chaos manifests in the stress-inducing, typically negative emotions you associate with work - such as unending urgency, never feeling on top of your workload, and feeling vague about direction or the “why” of work. Essentially, you feel like you’re going 120%, but you don’t necessarily know or understand what you’re working towards.

Let’s dig into some of the root causes of chaos in the workplace.

• An early-stage startup or a company in its scale-up phase: this is typically pre -Series B. During the rapid growth stage, all employees might frequently switch roles to meet evolving needs or take on many responsibilities.

• Frequent changes in direction due to market demands: for example, pivoting to a new sales motion such as B2B, prioritizing a new product entirely, or significantly changing how a product is used.

• Frequent changes in leadership or high employee turnover: usually due to weak culture fit, poor performance, or an organizational setup that doesn’t support business goals.

What’s the impact of a chaotic workplace on your psyche?

Now that you can recognize the reasons for chaos in a workplace, how does this impact your role as a product marketer?

• Uncertainty and confusion. This is tough, especially for a new product marketer who craves growth and a clear path for professional development. Having multiple managers or role changes in a short time frame means less time to build rapport, showcase successes, and self-advocate for yourself.

• Unrealistic expectations. It’s hard for leadership to understand your impact and outcomes if you’re juggling multiple responsibilities and are stretched too thin. This can lead to confusion around outcomes and expectations that are set too high.

• Inefficient working and communication. As an ESTJ, this one frustrates me the most of all the negative outcomes of a chaotic workplace. Chaos can lead to silos and miscommunication - for example, individuals or small teams breaking off to solve problems on their own can mean duplicated work. Low documentation and lack of process exacerbate this.

• Resentment. Most, if not all, product marketers can relate to the frustration and anger that all of the above, alone or combined, can cause. This can lead to burnout and disenchantment with product marketing as a discipline.

A chaotic workplace can be a curse… and a blessing

Despite all the above points seeming doom and gloom, remember that chaos can be a channel for positivity in your career - it’s all in how you frame it. Here are some ways chaos can aid you as a product marketer.

Developing a growth mindset. I encourage all product marketers to cultivate this mindset, no matter their career stage. A growth mindset is about not being comfortable - challenging yourself to persist, adapt, and learn. Viewing chaos as a way to seek new opportunities can propel you forward.

Being flexible and adaptable. This is a crucial skill for any product marketer to hone. Quickly responding and adapting to market changes can help build your muscle in pivoting positioning and messaging, and broaden your knowledge of new markets and segments.

Seeking innovation. Dealing with chaos often leads to creative problem-solving, which can help push you to think differently and explore new processes and methods - challenging the status quo.

How to handle chaos early in your product marketing career

As someone with a non-linear career path, I landed in product marketing later on rather than fresh out of an internship or college. Here are my top tips from early experiences in handling chaotic environments.

1. Handle your work and time first. This is a challenge for most junior product marketers. As someone with a reasonably high work capacity, I often overestimate what I can deliver and don’t factor in enough time for contingency. Moreover, chaos can make it seem like everything is essential, which simply isn’t the case.

Personal example: As a naturally organized person, I love ticking off my to-do list. Yet this can be a way to self-validate and to feel “productive”, rather than work on what’s important. Something that helped me prioritize early on and avoid discord was using the Eisenhower matrix to help me understand what work was important and what was more of a distraction. I’m also an advocate of the “eat the frog” method, which simply means you choose your most important task for your day and do it first.

2. Seize any opportunity you can. I tell this to everyone I know who is interested in product marketing. You will never be given anything - you have to take it. Chaos can often “hand” you these opportunities.

Personal example: I was a generalist marketing manager at Kahoot, an EdTech startup with no existing product marketing function, for a few years. When I learned the business was looking to develop a new product for businesses rather than consumers, I offered to support the VP of Product with how they took this to market. This started with small projects like building a customer feedback loop and helping with market research surveys. It grew to partnering closely with them on messaging and agreeing on all launch assets. Before I knew it, I was in product marketing!

3. Seek out guidance and mentorship. Asking for help isn’t a weakness. It can be tempting to pretend you’re on top of it all, but chaos will burn you out if your pride prevents you from getting support.

Personal example: In all my roles, I’ve actively sought mentorship from senior leaders. This doesn’t have to be a formal program - you can ask it when appropriate in a one-to-one, for example. Something I’ve done a lot is ask the mentor how they would approach a certain situation - such as a stressful product launch, dealing with executive changes, or how to handle conflicting feedback.

How to handle chaos as a senior product marketer or leader

Once you’re more established in your career, handling chaos should be familiar and easier to navigate unless your product marketing background is in a large enterprise company or a highly established industry. Here’s where some different advice comes into play.

A caveat - while I’ve managed a few people and small teams in the past, I’m not currently a people manager. So, I’m approaching this from a primarily individual contributor perspective.

1. Never stop self-advocating for you - and your team. Once you have a track record, thinking it will speak for itself can be tempting. Never stop documenting and sharing wins to aid with reflection, no matter how turbulent things might be.

Personal example: In every role I’ve been in, no matter how busy I am, I document my wins, as well as positive feedback from peers and leaders. It’s hard to carve out time to reflect, so I typically do this once a quarter. Having a paper trail of successes not only helps you advocate for yourself but also can help you reflect on the bigger picture when you’re caught up in daily chaos.

2. Build strategic alliances. In addition to your direct stakeholders in product, marketing, and sales, seek out other alliances, so you can get buy-in for new processes and approaches to reduce chaotic ways of working.

Personal example: While working on AI features at Atlassian, I partnered with various cross-functional leaders to identify and implement more strategic and efficient ways of working.

I also recommend Wes Kao’s newsletter on how to build influence, in particular her essays on how to use language strategically.

3. Lead by example with your team, peers, and reports. Even if you’re not a people manager, being an inspiring and stable force in the face of chaos is important.

Personal example: In multiple roles and stages in my career, I’ve offered myself as a mentor to several junior product marketers. You can hold regular one-on-one meetings to offer career advice and feedback. Also, be sure to provide feedback “in the moment”, and privately, where appropriate, to juniors on your team. Make sure they are open to receiving feedback first.

By leading by example and maintaining a positive outlook, product marketers can turn chaos into opportunities for innovation and growth. Finally, make this your mantra - it’s not personal. It never is. When you feel the chaos getting to you, don’t let it make you second-guess your own capabilities.

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A huge thank you to Daniella for sharing her story with us this month.

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