What does a product manager do?
A product manager defines the vision, strategy, and roadmap for a product. They collaborate with cross-functional teams—engineering, design, marketing, and sales—to deliver value to customers while achieving business outcomes.
What are the key skills to assess while looking for a product manager?
- Strategic Thinking: Defining product vision and aligning it with company goals.
- Prioritization: Managing trade-offs between user needs, technical feasibility, and ROI.
- Analytical Ability: Using data and metrics to inform decisions.
- Communication: Translating complex information across teams and stakeholders.
- User Empathy: Understanding customer pain points and behavior.
- Roadmap Planning: Building long-term strategies with short-term agility.
- Collaboration: Partnering effectively with engineering, design, and marketing.
- Leadership: Inspiring teams without direct authority.
What are the KPIs for a product manager?
Before tracking performance, connect the PM’s work to outcomes that reflect adoption, growth, and satisfaction across the product lifecycle.
- Product Adoption Rate / DAU-MAU Ratio
- Feature Utilization % / Engagement Metrics
- Customer Retention Rate / Churn Rate
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) / Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
- Revenue Growth / ARR Contribution
- Conversion Rate (Free-to-Paid, Trial-to-Active)
- Time-to-Market / Cycle Time
- Bug Frequency / Quality Score Post-Release
- Experiment Success Rate (A/B Tests)
- Roadmap Delivery Rate / On-Time Launch %
