ISSUE #21 - OCTOBER 25, 2023
From Individual Contributor to Senior Product Leader: The Evolution of the PM Role
The evolving role and responsibilities of product managers as they progress in their careers highlight differences in the areas of progress measurement, impact, planning, leadership, hiring, opportunity discovery, and execution standards.
In my first steps as a product manager, I often wondered how my role and responsibilities would transform as I gained more experience, gradually moving into a position of people management. After several years in the field, I've gained invaluable insights into the evolving expectations and responsibilities, and in this article, I'll share how I've witnessed this transition. The observations I'm about to discuss stem from my personal experiences, research, and conversations with fellow product professionals.
In particular, I'd like to compare two distinct stages of a product manager's career. The first stage is that of a junior-to-mid-level product manager, typically with 2-3 years of experience, functioning as an individual contributor. The second stage involves transitioning into people management, where your responsibilities include overseeing other product managers. By this point, you've usually accumulated 8+ years of experience, and titles may vary from company to company, ranging from Group Product Managers to Product Leads. In this article, I'll delve into the comparison between these two career stages, focusing on progress measurement, expected impact, planning, leadership qualities, hiring, opportunity discovery, and execution standards. For simplicity's sake and for the rest of this article, we'll refer to the two career stages we focus on as individual contributors and senior product leaders.
Measuring Progress
In the early stages of a product manager's career, you are expected to have a basic understanding key performance indicators (KPIs) that influence your domain. You should also have the ability to interpret basic metrics from a dashboard and effectively convey these and their impact to your team. Moreover, connecting these KPIs with ongoing projects and their impact is expected. As you progress to a senior role, the nature of measuring progress changes significantly. You're not merely expected to understand existing KPIs; you should be capable of constructing a robust, long-lasting KPI structure for your domain. Furthermore, you need to articulate how these KPIs are influenced by the projects on your team's roadmap, all of which implies the ability to foresee the KPIs that will be affected prior to designing a solution.
In the later stages of a product manager's career, proficiency in identifying customer problems and proposing clear, structured solutions that deliver impact becomes paramount. A hypothesis-driven approach is necessary, indicating proactiveness and a commitment to validating problems before committing resources.
Expected Impact
Significant differences arise in the expected impact between these two career stages, primarily in the scope of their influence. An individual contributor product manager is expected to deliver multiple projects regularly, demonstrating considerable impact while collaborating with the product team. They're expected to be relatively autonomous, without a constant need for guidance from more senior individuals. In contrast, senior product managers are expected to deliver impact not just through individual projects but across entire domains. These domains often encompass more than one area, and they should be able to handle larger-scale initiatives that might involve multiple teams, and thus, other product managers and more complex issues.
Planning
The substantial difference in this area stems from the level of responsibility at each stage of a product manager's career. As an individual contributor, you're more involved in running smaller teams of engineers and stakeholders, while scoping and planning their work to ensure timely delivery. In the later stages of your career, you are tasked with constructing realistic delivery plans for much larger-scale projects that span multiple quarters. This requires a more precise assessment of risk and feasibility.
Moreover, you must be proficient in communicating a clear roadmap for the broader initiatives you oversee and gaining buy-in from senior management and key stakeholders. You also need to consider the potential second-order impact of your initiatives. At this stage, you're expected to take into account the long-term results of your initiatives and make important decisions regarding the direction of future user research.
Leadership Qualities
In the early stages of a product manager's career, expectations concerning people management and leadership are limited. As a senior product leader, the landscape changes significantly. Leading and guiding several product managers is a core responsibility. You're expected to provide clear, constructive feedback to these individuals and their teams. Additionally, setting performance standards, motivating people to perform at their best, and holding them accountable when underperforming are crucial. In essence, you're responsible for taking corrective action when necessary, leading us to the next section: hiring.
Hiring
While an individual contributor is at best expected to participate in the interview process for potential team members, the senior product leader faces a much more challenging task. They're required to plan ahead with a clear strategy for the foreseeable future while simultaneously overseeing the entire hiring and onboarding process for new team members. This includes defining position requirements, creating job ads, extending job offers, crafting onboarding plans, and establishing significant milestones for new hires.
Discovery & Opportunities Assessment
Individual contributors are typically expected to frame problems clearly and demonstrate the potential impact of a solution. They should also analyze customer feedback effectively, distinguishing between noise and critical issues. Senior product leaders, on the other hand, are expected to take the lead in prioritizing initiatives for the teams they oversee. They must provide clarity, make decisions in opinion-heavy situations, and identify large-scale opportunities that can drive significant change, whether related to revenue growth or cost reduction. These leaders can influence the direction of various areas, ranging from research to hiring.
Execution Standards
Regarding execution, individual contributors are generally responsible for scoping their project work and ensuring its successful execution. They are also expected to comprehend the technical aspects of the solutions they deliver, including high-level components. Reflecting on lessons learned and applying them to future projects is essential. Senior product leaders are expected to establish standards for practices and deliverables within the domains and teams they oversee, ensuring the quality of deliverables. An important aspect here is ensuring the potential impact of releases on other teams, especially when there's a risk of negative consequences. These leaders should provide concrete data on the impact of the initiatives they've spearheaded, unblocking their teams and facilitating faster delivery.
In conclusion, the journey from an individual contributor to a senior product leader involves a remarkable shift in responsibilities. It's a transition from being a hands-on, task-oriented contributor to becoming a strategic, influential leader. As product managers progress in their careers, their focus shifts from personal achievements to team success, from tactical execution to strategic planning, and from individual contributions to the development of others. This evolution underscores the dynamic nature of product management, emphasizing adaptability and growth as essential to long-term success. Whether you're just embarking on your product management journey or aiming for the highest levels of leadership, understanding this transformation is essential for your professional development in this ever-evolving field.
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The Product Notebook by Manos Kyr.
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