During my initial years as a Product Manager, I faced a dilemma—should I continue as an Experience PM or shift to a Platform PM role? Since platform roles were fewer (at that time), and I loved working on user-centric work, I continued the path of experience PM.
Looking back, there is a fun way to discover what you may like –
Imagine you’re starting a restaurant. Would you rather build and run a :
1️⃣ Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain? Fast, efficient, and more focused on systems.
(Or)
2️⃣ Run a Fine Dining restaurant chain? ✨ Elegant, detailed, and all about delighting customers.
If QSR excites you, you might thrive as a Platform PM—building scalable systems, processes and infrastructure.
If Fine Dining sounds like your thing, you’re probably an Experience PM.
As more types of PM roles got added to the software industry, here are a few more possibilities –
3️⃣ Growth PMs – They are food truck entrepreneurs. They’re quick to experiment with locations, offerings, and marketing to attract and retain diners. It’s about growth, experiments, hustle, and optimizing for impact.
4️⃣ Data PMs – You are the master chef in the lab. Would you love meticulously analyzing every ingredient, testing recipes, and tweaking the menu based on customer feedback and sales data? You bring data-driven precision to decision-making.
But definitely, each PM type plays a unique role in building successful products (or restaurants!).
Which one resonates with you? Share your thoughts below!
