How should a PM’s performance be evaluated? In a recent post, I argued that one cannot consistently measure the intrinsic dollar value created by a Product Manager. Here are the performance metrics that can be set for different PM roles. The following common set of measures (not in any order of priority)
In the last article, we concluded that the only way to pay a PM is to use market-determined pay rather than trying to use the intrinsic value created by the role. Would it not be nice to define a neutral benchmark (or an anchor pay) that reflects value addition rather than market-driven
tl;dr This article illustrates why it is not possible to assign a dollar value to a PM’s contribution in a fair and consistent manner. “How much should I pay my Product managers?” – A founder asked me. He continued – “I have standardized the pay structure for my sales team based on
Few posts from experienced PMs assert that product frameworks that one learns during PM prep/interviews are almost useless in the actual job. Is that true? My take: Frameworks are very useful. It is just that many PMs don’t explicitly discuss framework names but still apply the knowledge gained from them at work.
Feedback from managers could be misinterpreted by team members. Here is one possible misinterpretation – Imagine you had a feedback session with your manager. Your manager listed 5 items under “areas to focus on and improve”. Since there were a bunch of things to work upon, you pick up 2 items from
Sheela, the Director of products had a quarterly feedback session with her PM Sahil. She conveyed the following to Sahil – “Hello Sahil – Good to have you join our team (from the last quarter). Things have gotten better after you joined and started managing the customer experience initiatives. Few long pending
New leaders find it difficult to delegate their responsibilities to their team. A consequence of this is another challenge that leaders hardly notice and reduces their effectiveness. We call this ‘reverse delegation’. Imagine you are the leader. One of your team members drops by your desk and says ‘Boss, there is a
Many years ago, I was building a team in a startup. One day my manager pulled me into a conference room to discuss something ad hoc. He asked me – “I noticed that you were in the boardroom with your product managers and the engineering team for hours together. What is happening?”.
Lakshmi was a hungry Product Manager. She had enough work on her plate but still sought more work where she can learn and grow. Her boss, being appreciative, gave her more features to own and build. I.e. more of what she was already doing. In a couple of months, Lakshmi became tired
Rahul (name changed) joined a series-B startup to lead the product function as Senior Director. He was the first product hire and had the mandate to build his team from scratch. He was excited about this new role and the prospect of faster career growth. At this stage, he needed solid PMs
