While contemplating the PM Scorecard and why organizations need to invest in understanding their PM needs, I was in need of an example that would make the most skeptical skeptic become a believer in the idea: PMs are not the same and are not generalists—even though Mind the Product thinks so. 🙄
As I was floating my “three modes of PMs” theory/framework to PMs that I know and respect, I was met with some criticism, but overall a lot of support and enthusiasm of the framework! By talking out my ideas, I started to realize that this framework could help PMs in the following ways:
- Understanding what type of PM you are, including your strengths and weaknesses
- Understanding what skills you would need to improve/attain to change to a different mode
- Where new PMs should start (spoiler: in Optimization)
Initially, I was concentrating on what PMs do in each of these modes, but Rob Hayes of foundation.pm pointed out a useful addition: how they work.
So without further adieu, here’s the latest iteration of the Three Modes of Product Managers framework: