What does it mean for a PM to be “set up for success”?

A PM, their manager, and others in their group work together to make sure each PM is set up to succeed.

Role

• Clear mission & scope of ownership/influence
• Alignment with broader team and company goals (those goals should be clear)
• Potential to have impact on company & users
• Understanding of what a great PM does at your company and what impact looks like in this role

Clear operating principles

• Clear decision-making framework and clear decision-makers (UX, Product strategy, Eng strategy)
• Knowing what things execs care about
• Getting timely feedback
• Predictable product development process (with PgM/TPM support as needed)
• Roles & responsibilities, how different disciplines interact
• Artifacts that are created
• Process
• Guidelines for product feedback at the company — giving and receiving/engaging
• Awareness of relevant company and cross-team priorities, changes in plans, and shadow projects if applicable

Full pizza team

• Clear eng partner & defined engineering team, technical expertise aligning to area
• Design partner (other UX functions like writing as needed)
• XFN support (marketing, DevRel, Partner Eng, BD, etc.)
• Clear X-pillar agreements for dependencies — alignment of priorities & resourcing
• Happy team, XFN, and X-pillar relationships

Career & development

• Current role aligned with interests, level, skills/experience
• Feedback about how to keep growing from peers, manager, etc.
• Understand how to get to next step (explore new projects, horizontal moves, promos, etc.)
• Coaching from manager, mentors, etc.
• Trainings and other professional development opportunities
• Sponsorship as needed