The Product Manager Development Framework I Never Had
My first foray into managing products started around 6 years ago.
It was a long time until I had any guidance on how to build products well. I was left mainly to learn from my mistakes.
Now, I have the amazing responsibility of coaching other Product Managers. They are already fantastic, but I can bring the guidance that I never had to make them even better, even faster.
I’ve been on a journey when it comes to PM development frameworks.
- I didn’t have any and lost a great person in a team as a result (which is bad)
- I had one, which got occasional usage (still bad)
- I iterated and had something which was used quarterly (alright)
- I iterated again and created something which is used weekly (better)
As a disclaimer, I’m definitely on a journey here. I have a lot to learn and there are definitely faults with this, but if somebody else can find use in it, I’ll be delighted.
It’s designed to highlight at-a-glance how effective a Product Manager is and where growth opportunities are.
Here it is:
How it works
- It organises required skills into categories (with descriptions below)
- These skills are scored from 1–5 (one being ‘novice’, to 5 being a ‘complete expert’)
- The category scores are averaged and displayed on a radar chart
Breakdown of categories:
Product sense
- The ability to build the right product, broken down by the constituent parts that make up this skill
Core PM outputs
- A breakdown of the core deliverables of a Product Manager. Strategy, roadmap, feature requirements and delivery
Enabling capabilities
- A breakdown of some of the skills required to be better at the above. Including fluency with data, experimentation etc
Storytelling
- The ability to tell engaging, compelling stories and the volume in which it’s carried out. Written and verbal.
Enabling behaviours
- Some of the areas of conduct that can improve efficacy as a Product Manager, with an extra focus on self-awareness.
Leadership behaviours
- Some traits which are ‘above and beyond’ and highlight that a person is capable of stepping up.
Impact
- How much impact is the person having on the product and key metrics.
If you have any advice on how to make this better, I’d love to hear about it.
