PM Skill Matrix - by Markus Müller

	A	B	C	D	E
1		Associate PM	Product Manager	PM Leader	PM Executive

2	Product Knowledge:
3	User and Customer Knowledge	Is the product manager a company acknowledged expert on their target users/customers?
4	Customer Empathy & Segmentation	● Exhibits natural and intuitive user empathy ● Actively make use of personas in day to day work	● Strong empathy for existing and future personas goals, jobs and pains in your domain	● Actively work on expanding customer knowledge to actively drive segmentation and shape existing and new personas	● Profoundest understanding of customer in your domain ● Advocate customer centric working company-wide ● Monitor and shape overall product<>persona fit
5	Customer Discovery & Research	● Support user research in a structured way ● Familiar with user science tools and processes	● Prepare, run and draw actionable conclusions of customer discovery interviews with help ● Choose correct tools to traces a user issue back to the underlying problem	● Prepare, run and draw actionable conclusions of customer discovery interviews with no help and without bias ● Achieve and prioritize validated problem statements of all kind with no help	● Advise test selection and setup across multiple environments quickly ● Debug/remove bias for others' test setups ● Teach best practices
6	Data Knowledge	Is the product manager skilled with the various data tools and considered by their product team and their stakeholders as an acknowledged expert in how the product is actually used by users?
7	Data gathering and analysis execution	● Understand internal sources and consistently utilize them to deliver timely, zero-defect execution of analysis, with minimum support ● Creative and tenacious in overcoming data gathering challenges ● Make thoughtful, well documented assumptions	● Define meaningful tracking for area of responsibility with little help ● Master data gathering for area of responsibility using internal and external sources. Performing quality control for self and direct reports (if any). ● Consistently deliver zero-defect analysis for area of responsibility.	● Ensure high-quality data tracking for area of responsibility ● Leverage internal and external sources and experts, and applies to own domain	● Ensure that team members understand, select and exhaust relevant information sources ● Ensure high-quality on professional standards policies in regard to data gathering
8	Generate insights & recommendations	● Draw correct conclusions to relevant situation, consistently performing strong reality checks ● Suggest analytical next steps and generates recommendations with a basic priority check	● Understands key impact on customers / users / stakeholders ● Consistently develop actionable and implementable recommendations to own domain ● Helps others with reality checks and deriving conclusive recommendations	● Engage with all business insights for the entire domain based on broader customer/ stakeholder and strategic context ● Consistently derives sound business insights from own area of responsibility and that of direct reports (if any) ● Proactively thinks through implications and needs supervisor guidance only occasionally	● Leverage insights across domains, based on insights and prior experience ● Ensure high-quality on professional standards policies in regard to generating insights and recommendations
9	Industry and Domain Knowledge	Is the product manager knowledgeable about the industry, market and domain? Do they understand the competitive landscape and the relevant industry trends?
10		● Know key competitors and market trends ● Execute efficient, structured market and competition research	● Clear understanding of differentiation of value proposition of area of responsibility and alternative solutions ● Up to date about important news on key competitors and market trends ● Propose actionable conclusions from competition research	● Profound understanding of differentiation of value proposition of the company and its key competitors ● Profound understanding of the product of key competitors ● Good understanding of market, social and technology trends	● Proactively engaging with competitors ● Profound understanding of market, social and technology trends to proactively shape the product strategy ● Sharing market and competition insights across the company
11	Business and Company Knowledge	Does the product manager understand the various dimensions of your company’s business – marketing, sales, finance (both revenue and costs), services, legal, privacy, etc.? And do the stakeholders believe that the product manager understands their concerns and constraints?
12		● Understanding business model and KPIs in context of company objectives and strategy	● Profound understanding of KPIs for area of responsibility ● Good understanding of the company's business model, goals & strategy ● Good understanding of business & legal constraints for area of responsibility	● Good understanding of the company-wide KPI tree ● Profound understanding of companies business model, goals & strategy	● Communicates, aligns and shapes company goals, strategy and business model
13	Product Operational Knowledge	Is the product manager considered an acknowledged expert on how their product actually works? Would they be able to effectively demo to a prospective customer, train a new customer on how to successfully use, and handle live customer support inquiries?
14		● Can clearly articulate the companies value proposition and introduce new customers to basic concepts	● Go to expert for the products in the area of responsibility ● Profound understanding for the operational challenges	● Anticipate and proactively approach operational challenges with products within the area of responsibility
15	People Skills and Responsibilities:
16	Team Collaboration Skills	How effectively does the product manager work with her developers and product designer? Is it a collaborative relationship? Is there mutual respect? Is the product manager involving the developers and designer early enough and providing them direct access to customers? Is the product manager fully leveraging her team’s skills and minds?
17		● Considered by peers as strong thought partner ● Participate actively in group meetings ● Strong understanding of company values	● Create a safe team environment that promotes acceptance of failure ● Strong understanding when and how to include different parties ● Actively encourages people to live company values	● Leverage collective intelligence of the team ● Reach objectively good negotiation results, efficiently, maintaining relationships	● Shape and develop product and company values
18	Stakeholder Management Skills	How good is the product manager at managing their stakeholders across the company? Do they feel like they have a true partner in product that is genuinely committed to their business success? Have they established mutual respect and mutual trust with each stakeholder, including the senior leadership of the company?
19		● Has some appreciation for how decisions are made in the stakeholder's specific business area or domain and begins to consider implications for product processes ● Shares/discusses outcome of analysis with stakeholders who provided data to identify potential issues	● Embodies "one team" attitude with key stakeholders ● Proactively work with stakeholders to support them in resolving any roadblocks to ensure results are delivered	● Anticipate stakeholders needs and interests ● Align stakeholders from different business areas; for difficult stakeholders with help	● Develop strong relationships with stakeholders to help them leverage our products to the fullest extent ● Align any group of stakeholders
20	Evangelism Skills	Is the product manager able to effectively share the product’s vision and strategy, and motivate and inspire their product team, as well as the various stakeholders and others in the company that must contribute to the product in one way or another?
21	Align product vision and strategy	● Understand the product vision and strategy and can explain it very well to new joiners	● Align their teams and stakeholders behind the product vision and strategy ● Motivate and inspire their team through vision and strategy	● Communicate and align the vision and strategy across the product and technology department	● Create strong buy-in by the product & technology team as well as key stakeholders for the product vision and strategy
22	Product mindset & methodologies	● Familiar with popular frameworks and the modern PM mindset	● Profound understanding of the modern PM mindset ● Active use of product frameworks and tools to document information in a structured way (user journey maps, flow, information architecture etc.)	● Educate stakeholders and their team on the overarching product development process and PM mindset ● Proactively extends the toolbox of frameworks	● Educate company employees and external audiences about the companies PM mindset and principles ● Teaches & establishes best practices around PM frameworks
23	Leadership Skills	Do their team and their stakeholders look to them for leadership, especially in stressful situations?
24	Cross-Functional Leadership	● Effectively unblock and support cross-functional teams	● Considered as a leader who challenges directly and cares personally by their cross-functional teams ● The team has full clarity on objectives, priorities and the why behind both ● Identify conflicts or roadblocks on area of responsibility; often able to resolve independently	● Empower and inspires their team(s) and key individuals to deliver their best ● Build high performing cross-functional teams with strong psychological safety ● Identify conflicts or roadblocks on area of responsibility quickly and resolves them independently ● Create an atmosphere of enthusiasm, fun, commitment and trust	● Considered an excellent leader, inspiring people across the company ● Able to be vulnerable in front of large groups ● Proactively support people across the organization to grow their leadership skills ● Ensure attention to result, individual growth, and satisfaction across area of responsibility
25	Direct people management & recruiting	● Mentor PM interns ● Act as strong & efficient interviewer for pm interns	● Mentor APMs ● Coaching, performance management and career development for PM Interns with help ● Act as strong & efficient interviewer for (A)PMs	● Coaching, performance management and career development of APMs and PMs with no help ● Act as hiring manager for dedicated positions	● Build, lead and maintain a successful team of PMs ● Coach, feedback and mentor any kind of PM with best quality ● Very effective interviewer for any kind of product role
26	Communication Skills	Is the product manager considered effective in communication with teams, 1o1 and in presentations?
27		● Proactive, well-structured, clear 1o1 and email communication ● Articulates business logic to technical partners ● Prepare and give short presentations with help	● Effective, assertive and empathetic stakeholder and 1o1 communication ● Deliver clear, professional, and confident presentations in formal and informal settings ● Clear to the point written communication	● Strong moderation skills ● Write thought - leadership emails / messages ● Prepare and give presentations in front of large, senior audiences with help	● Effectively facilitate presentations and working sessions with large, senior audiences ● Teach and establish best practices
28	Process Skills and Techniques:
29	Product Strategizing	Is the product manager able to create a product strategy that delivers against the company's vision and objectives, and is expressed through a well-aligned roadmap?
30	Strategy definition and goal setting	● Efficiently support measuring product objectives and metrics	● Define and measure outcome-based objectives and metrics for area of responsibility that reflect the product strategy	● Proactively challenge the product vision and strategy based on insights from data and research ● Own the product strategy for area of responsibility	● Shape and align the product vision and strategy across the company ● Ensure effective goal setting and measuring across all product teams
31	Opportunity Assessment	● Run assessments of new opportunities against company objectives with help	● Run effective assessments of new opportunities against company objectives without help	● Actively challenge the opportunity assessment for all topics within their area of responsibility ● Establish loops to continuously generate new opportunities	● Ensure effective opportunity assessment
32	Roadmapping	● Understand the interdependence between vision, strategy, objectives and roadmap	● Clearly communicate the connection between vision, strategy, objectives and roadmap ● Ensure a transparent, well aligned & justifiable prioritization within their area of responsibility	● Facilitate effective roadmap discussion for area of responsibility with senior stakeholders ● Create company-wide transparency about roadmap for area of responsibility and invite others to challenge	● Ensure an alignment between roadmap, objectives, strategy and vision
33	Product Discovery Techniques	Does the product manager have a strong understanding of the product risks and how to address each of them? Do they understand how to tackle risks up front, before engineers are asked to build? Do they focus on outcome? Do they understand and utilize both qualitative and quantitative techniques?
34	Problem Research and Definition	● Derive actionable insights from research on alternative solutions	● Choose correct tools to traces a user issue back to the underlying problem ● Analyze product data to achieve validated problem statement	● Define prioritized & validated problem statements of all kind with no help ● Generate high value from user science tools.	● Advise test selection and setup across multiple environments ● Debug/remove bias for others' test setups
35	Solution design and validation	● Craft and validate solutions for small problems with help ● Efficiently support experimentation execution and analysis	● Guide a team through selecting, crafting & validating effective solutions for problems (for complex problems with help) ● Choose correct experimentation methods to de-risk a list of prioritized assumptions ● Slice solutions to a viable minimum that effectively solve prioritized problems	● Guide a team through selecting, crafting & validating effective solutions for any product problem ● Generate high value from running efficient discovery experiments ● Craft high-quality value propositions, validate them and make sure solutions deliver on them	● Advise and debug experimentation efforts ● Teach and establishes best practices
36	Business modeling	● Make a structured cost and benefit analysis as decision proposal	● Validate cost and benefit analysis and derives realistic product targets (For complex products with help)	● Validate cost and benefit analysis and derives realistic product targets for all products with no help ● Take well thought through make/buy decisions	● Monitor and steer the cross-product business modeling and development
37	Product Delivery Process	While the product manager’s primary responsibility is discovery, they still have an important role to play in delivery. Are they able to work with a cross-functional team to ensure validated concepts can be released successfully?
38	Agile development execution and methodologies	● Clear understanding of development process, methodologies and tools ● Lead agile meetings with help	● Lead agile meetings with no help	● Facilitate agile meetings effectively ● Manage projects across multiple scrum teams effectively	● Teach and establish best practices and principles
39	Technology and Design understanding	● Understand basic terminology and platform differences. ● Understand basic design concepts - able to distinguish good and bad design	● Understanding of architecture and dependencies within area of responsibility ● Anticipate implementation challenges ● Consider security and scalability with help ● Provide valuable design feedback	● Good understanding of complexity of different solutions ● Understanding of architecture and dependencies of the whole product they contribute to	● Drive tech education of direct reports
40	Backlog management: scoping and user story definition	● Write and prioritize stories for small products with little/no errors with help	● Write, slice and prioritize stories for area of responsibility with little-no errors with no help ● Continuous scope refinement (for big products with help)	● Review and refine stories to improve quality of other PMs ● Continuous scope refinement for big products with no help	● Teach and establish best practices and principles ● Ensure high-quality backlog management across area of responsibility
41	Roll-out and launch management	● Coordinate launch preparation with other departments ● Deliver small features on time with little/no bugs	● Coordinate major releases with help ● Deliver products that achieve expected outcomes	● Coordinate major releases with no help ● Deliver major products that achieve expected outcomes	● Ensure high-quality product launches
42	Product Optimization Techniques	Once a product or new capability is live and in production, does the product manager know how to gather feedback and utilize optimization techniques to rapidly improve and refine their product.
43	Data & Feedback gathering	● Efficiently support data gathering and structuring	● Choose sources of data and generate insights to derive a prioritized list of hypotheses	● Profound understanding how to combine qualitative and quantitative data sources and methodologies	● Teach and establish best practices and principles
44	Continuous Experimentation	● Efficiently supports experimentation execution and analysis	● Choose the appropriated experimentation methodologies, execute experiments and derive actionable results	● Achieve high impact for reasonable effort from experimentation for product optimization	● Advise and debug experimentation efforts
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47		Not applicable / Not expected / Can't be scored
48		Expectations not met
49		Below expectations
50		At expectations
51		Above expectations
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