PM Genome - Productized Lisbon 2017

Product Management Genome

Mapping and enabling the genetics of a product career.

Productized Conference Population Analysis

Copyright Product Management Genome 2017

A career in product management can be ambiguous

• Multi-disciplinary role, with varying priorities at different companies (tech-focused, design-focused, customer-focused).

• Unclear and non-linear growth trajectory throughout product management careers. What is advancement?

• Weak relationship between years of product management experience and seniority of product management position.

• Poor understanding of what skills or experiences are required for advancement.

• Wealth of product management resources, lack of direction to find the right ones.

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We are advancing the profession through research and collaboration

The Product Management Genome is focused on advancing the profession through research and collaboration. We combine data insights with a career growth framework to reduce the ambiguity

associated with breaking into and maturing as a product manager.

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We are a cross-industry team developing the PM Genome

Joe Aamidor Torben Spitzer Rob McGrorty Ryan Troll

@jaamidor @start_it_here @robmcgrorty @ryantroll

Managing Director Aamidor Consulting

VP, Product & Marketing FreeWire Technologies

Head of Product Webgility

Cofounder & CEO ProductMaven

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https://twitter.com/jaamidor

https://twitter.com/start_it_here

https://twitter.com/robmcgrorty

https://twitter.com/ryantroll


Our work is anchored in a data-driven growth framework

Growth in product management goes beyond a job title and traditional “steps” to a journey that is both individual and unique.

•Developmental stages (exploring, aspiring, new, developing, etc) •Individual actions and doings •Functional roles and responsibilities •Skills (soft vs hard) •Thinking / thought process •Challenges and opportunities

Aspiring Leading

Growth takes into consideration:

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Who participated in the conference.

Productized Audience Demographics


Company Composition

65% work in Technology 70% in Software and Services

Where do other industries and hardware PM’s build a network?

Industry Product Type


Product Team Size

Company Composition

55% of all PM’s work in small teams 75% of all PM’s work in companies with >50 employees.

So the PM team in average makes up less than 10% of the company

Company Size


Company Composition

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About half of the attendees who attended the conference work for B2B business, with about a quarter each working for B2C and B2B2C.


Functional Roles

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As expected 40% of all entries are Product Manager Surprising is the absence of Director-, Head- and VP- of Product


Year of Experience Distribution

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~50% of entries have between 0-4 years of experience Match with the number of entries self labeling as “Product Manager”


Career growth needs, challenges and opportunities.

Productized Audience Insights


Growth Stages

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Conference attendees skewed towards individual contributors who consider themselves as developing in their career


Functional Strengths (Stack Ranked)

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1 2 3 4 5 6

Customer 32.14% 25.00% 17.86% 21.43% 3.57% 0.00%

Business 25.00% 42.86% 10.71% 7.14% 7.14% 7.14%

Technical 21.43% 7.14% 21.43% 17.86% 10.71% 21.43%

Data 0.00% 3.57% 7.14% 25.00% 35.71% 28.57%

Design 21.43% 10.71% 17.86% 17.86% 25.00% 7.14%

Growth and Marketing 0.00% 10.71% 25.00% 10.71% 17.86% 35.71%

When asked to “stack rank” their product chops, conference attendees over-indexed on customer and business and under-indexed on marketing and design.


Individual Growth Goals

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We see the ambiguity reflected in career goals. PM’s to similar extend strive to grow vertically (“better PM”) or horizontally (“Product Leader”)


Individual Growth Actions

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Our interviews show similar results: that PM’s like to attend events and network but they struggle with establishing strong mentorship relationships


Growth Barriers & Challenges

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Surprising: We established that PM’s work in small teams with limited resources. But only 10% see resource constraints as a barrier


Founder

CTO

CMO

CEO

CPO

Growth Framework

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Aspiring Developing Maturing Leading Transitioning

Expert

Network

Definition

OrganizationBest Practices

Gap AnalysisHiring & Team Design

Mentorship

CommunicationRoles

B

Analyst

Designer

Engineer

Undergrad

Project Manager

Program Manager

Placement

Training


Let’s advance the PM Genome, together.

How To Collaborate


How to get involved: We operate through a “hub & spoke” collaboration model

Create Meetup groups

Create own research project

Create PM career resources

Create on the job trainings for PM’s

All in - create new spoke initiatives:

Spread the wordLinkedIn, Facebook, PM Groups,…

Sign up for the newsletterStay up to date

Start publishingContribute to research

Promote and publish:

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www.pmgenome.org

PM Genome - Productized Lisbon 2017

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