March 7, 2019
Uber fmr Product Lead on Measuring PM Performance (Part 3)
Breaking down the PM performance framework in further detail, there are four core competencies that apply to every product manager. When you start looking at your own skills, it’s important to identify areas that are current strengths and opportunities for improvement. Think about where you currently stack up within the following four areas of focus.
Innovation, Execution, Leadership, Technical.
Specifically, let’s start by looking at what you should focus on within the Innovation phase of development.
Innovation.
- Customer Obsession.
- Just as Mr. Bezos would attest, product managers have to ground themselves in everything that matters to customers. Said differently, you have to live/eat/breathe/sleep exactly as your customers do every day. Ultimately, you need to fully understand what gaining value means to your core audience. Simply put, it’s customer empathy 101.
- Business Strategy.
- While focusing on customer needs is essential for product teams, you also have to balance your business priorities at the same time. However, you can’t just operate according to customer demands. Instead, you have to avoid distractions that can arise when you start to “play favorites” and lose sight of what matters most.
- Vision & Storytelling.
- Once you identify customer needs and create your strategy, it’s time to articulate your vision for the future. In other words, how will your worldview and perspective on the “next big thing” become a reality in your product. There is no better way to display your capacity for performance than sharing your story of what is possible within your product team.
- Ideation.
- This is the last step in the innovation phase that ties it all together. In summary, your ideation performance will be a function of how quickly you can enable your team to build for the future. That said, you’re certainly not doing this on a whim. Instead, you’re building on each of the previous steps to create an ideation funnel that will generate your next round of breakthroughs.
About the speaker
Shalin Mantri
Skip, fmr Head of Product
Member