Mariah Craddick Executive Director of Product, The Atlantic https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariahcraddick/

Key Quote

Building a talented team doesn’t just happen. It requires intentional planning and ongoing engagement to develop and nurture talent.

Session Overview

In this session, Mariah will walk through a career and skill development framework that managers of product managers can use to help grow their teams in a focused and practical way. She’ll also talk through how you can apply this approach to improve your team’s use of generative AI in their work and hold them accountable.

Notes

Managers can make or break your career. Yet no one really teaches you how to be a good manager.

And that’s a problem.

Good Managers vs Bad Managers

Perhaps better described as effective compared to ineffective managers.

Good Effective Managers

• Clarify and articulate clear expectations
• Empower their team to own respective domains, make decisions
• Encourage autonomy through active coaching
• Communicate transparently and proactively
• Offer constructive and specific ongoing feedback for individual career development
• Lead by example, without stepping on toes

Bad Ineffective Managers

• Unfocused and unclear expectations
• Over-involved in discrete tasks and decision-making
• Micromanage team members and how they work
• Fail to communicate or withhold critical information
• Avoid giving feedback and lack of interest in individual career development
• Foster a high-stakes, negative environment

Better management = better outcomes.

Great Product Leaders focus on the performance of the product team.

PM Competency Model

Takes all the skills that product managers have and puts them in four specific categories.

Source: Reforge, Ravi Mehta

| Product Execution

• Product quality
• Product delivery
• Feature specification | Customer Insight
• Fluency with data
• Voice of the customer
• UX design | | --- | --- | | Influencing People
• Managing up
• Team leadership
• Stakeholder management | Product Strategy
• Business outcome ownership
• Product vision and roadmapping
• Strategic impact |

Exponential Feedback Loop

Source: Reforge, Ravi Mehta

You should always be talking with the product manager about their performance. Don’t wait until the annual review to talk about performance.