How much is a PM expected to accomplish in 1 year?
Let's explore PM expectations at the one-year mark.
I’ve experienced having a first anniversary since starting a new PM job several times (First Microsoft, then Planview, and eventually Unbounce), so let’s discuss the expectations on the job.
Product management is one of those fields that often involves a slower ramp-up period, with a positive impact that is not realized until later down the road by the business or maybe even your own team. Even project and program management can be similar - project deliverables don’t arrive and pay dividends immediately. Perhaps some people may not accumulate the said impact until they have long left the company. Thus, let’s tackle this topic from the angles of all PM roles.
However, by the end of the first year, expectations begin to accumulate, and most PMs should be able to concretely describe their value or impact through their product’s success metrics.
My typical way of describing a PM’s impact on a product team for developers or other curious engineers would be: “Imagine if your PM left the team. Do you feel like there would be a hole to fill, and things would fall into chaos?” Because if yes, you got yourself a fine PM.
The “One Year” Expectations
That being said, it should be relatively easier to describe the high-impact expectations of a PM once they reach the one-year mark. Let’s take a look at some examples of great and poor results, derived from my multiple conversations with veteran PMs and personal experiences. Do keep in mind that this is still a small reflection of subjective opinions since the PM role can be so varied!
Examples of great results:
The main KRs (key results) that the PM was responsible for have been met, or are on their way to being met (unless there was a justifiable disruption)
Your co-workers acknowledge the importance of your decision-making and include you in critical meetings that involve your product/feature
Your organization’s broader KR (think: revenue targets or adoption improvements) is close or has been achieved with a noticeable boost since your arrival
Your engineers/product team enjoy your company outside of deep discussions (aren’t afraid to chat with you 1:1 or seek you for help)
Examples of poor results:
Your KRs aren’t even remotely close to being met (assuming no pivot or change in product strategy)
Your co-workers are reluctant to include you in critical team discussions or even trivial calls/work sessions.
Your organization’s broader KR hasn’t budged outside of external factors, or there haven’t been noticeable gains/traction since your arrival.
It’s important to know that, obviously, qualitative benchmarks like the above seldom do justice to the real impact a product manager could bring within their first year. So many nuances are at play. For example:
A product manager could be wearing multiple hats and doing many tasks that other team members despise, yet it’s not reflected in KR or business-related performance.
Daily operations could be disrupted — and thus a team’s velocity impacted — if a PM were to take any sort of leave of absence.
Politics could easily get in the way of a PM’s impact, and those factors could be out of their control or pay grade.
So does a PM set themselves up for success by the one-year mark?
For PMs just starting or who have already invested a year (or several) in their company, the following still applies:
1. Explore where you can provide immediate value.
While especially useful for new PMs on the job, current PMs should never dull their eyes when it comes to seeking areas of immediate impact. Stuff like starting an internal newsletter or inner circle, creating small mockups for your designers to better understand your ideas, or perhaps handholding customers down your funnel more closely. Even if it’s the small things, it could go a long way.
2. Team dynamics matter — and are an underrated factor.
It’s ultimately important for your company and product to achieve its North Star goals and metrics (like revenue, adoption, retention, or a combination of everything), but team dynamics matter.
I’ve seen and heard situations where a PM is hard to work with (for example, they’re not great listeners or are tone-deaf), hindering sentimental productivity across the board. If you were an engineer expecting a strong PM to lead your team’s strategy, would you want a narcissist to make the environment miserable?
Chances are, probably not; it’s a factor that should be more considered in the grand scheme of things: if a PM doesn’t establish a healthy and empathetic working relationship with their team, nothing else matters anymore.
3. Never lose sight of your team’s 1-year product and business goals.
As stated above, the first year’s KRs can truly show where a product manager’s impact is most felt — direct business impact. Never lose sight of those 1-year goals; it can stay true even for PMs who have already crossed that first-year mark — keep crushing (or working toward) those periodical KRs to show your true worth!
Check out more at PM Exercises!
PM Exercises is a global platform and community focused on growing product manager careers around the world, and has a keen focus on AI.
Check out their article about building empathetic relationships: https://www.productmanagementexercises.com/blog/essential-pm-skills-empathy-why-feelings-matter/
or this article on soft skills: https://www.productmanagementexercises.com/blog/6-soft-skills-every-product-manager-needs/