This document summarizes a conference on product management careers hosted by the Product Management Genome organization. It provides demographic information about the conference attendees, which were mostly individuals with 0-4 years of experience working in small product teams at technology companies. The document also discusses findings from the conference that product managers' career growth is ambiguous and that attendees were seeking to develop their customer and business skills. It introduces a growth framework used by Product Management Genome to map out career stages from aspiring to leading.

1. Product Management
Genome
Mapping and enabling the genetics of a product career.
Productized Conference Population Analysis

2. 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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3. Copyright Product Management Genome 2017
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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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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”

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Career growth needs, challenges and opportunities.
Productized Audience Insights

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

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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.

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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”)

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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

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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

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Founder
CTO
CMO
CEO
CPO
Growth Framework
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Aspiring Developing Maturing Leading Transitioning
Expert
Network
Definition
Organization
Best Practices
Gap Analysis
Hiring & Team Design
Mentorship
Communication
Roles
B
Analyst
Designer
Engineer
Undergrad
Project
Manager
Program
Manager
Placement
Training

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Let’s advance the PM Genome, together.
How To Collaborate

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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 word
LinkedIn, Facebook, PM Groups,…
Sign up for the newsletter
Stay up to date
Start publishing
Contribute to research
Promote and publish:
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www.pmgenome.org