Signs You're On the Right Path to Be Promoted

What happened this week?

As I carried on with my mid-year team review, it hit me that I should keep tweaking our career ladder and promotion criteria, it was not good enough. This meant assessing each PM and figuring out the impact they've had over the last 6 months.

This whole process got me thinking about the key steps for moving up the career ladder and showing more impact to our users and within our team.

I've spent hours on this career path and had some great chats with PM friends from other great product-led companies. So now, I want to share what we've come up with, which I plan to use to gauge my team's performance and help them advance in their careers.

What’s in there?

1. Increase your scope

2. Be more Proactive

3. Increase your Impact

4. Have autonomy & build trust

5. More mentorship and leadership

What Senior PMs Do That APMs Don't

I've observed distinct differentiators between junior and senior/A-player Product Managers. These insights align with the career progression at various companies, highlighting five key areas to focus on when aiming for seniority.

Increase your scope! 

Junior PMs focus on individual features, while senior PMs handle multiple products or entire product lines, possibly transitioning from specific use cases to broader market segments.

Scope progression: Single Feature ➡️ Multiple Features ➡️ Product ➡️ Multiple Products ➡️ Product Line ➡️ Product Division ➡️ Industry Portfolio

Product Refinement: Specific Use Cases ➡️ Product ➡️ Across Products ➡️ Across Groups

Key progression signs

• 🌱 Junior PMs should gain experience in managing multiple features within a product to prepare for senior roles.

• 🚀 Senior PMs can explore opportunities to expand their scope by overseeing entire product lines or departments.

• Try to increase your scope from specific use cases to broader market segments as a career progression path for PMs.

Be More Proactive 

Proactivity is a key distinction between junior and senior PMs, with the latter driving team initiatives and pushing for excellence.

Proactivity: Very reactive ➡️ Proactive ➡️ self-driven, I’m doing my own thing

Key progression signs

• 🚀 Senior PMs actively seek out challenges and inspire their teams.

• 🌟 Foster team explorations and innovation under senior PM leadership.

• 🚢 Establish consistent shipping cadences for product success.

• 📈 Continuously push teams to excel and achieve their best.

Deliver Positive Impact Consistently 

Transitioning from sporadic value delivery to consistent value delivery is crucial for Senior PMs, requiring a track record of key product enhancements and strategic influence across the organization.

Consistent Impact: Busy with low impact ➡️ medium impact ➡️ high impact + revenue

Key progression signs