CPT: A Framework for Hiring PMs
When hiring a product manager, there is no single set of skills needed consistently from role to the next. Leaders need to take multiple elements into consideration when hiring PMs. In my experience, when determining the fit for an open PM role, considerations narrow down to three core areas: the company, product, and team (CPT).
I have a good PM friend who always says “PMs fill in the white spaces.” By which, they mean PMs fill in the blanks, whatever they may be and a lot of times there are no clear labels for what needs to be done. What the PM needs to do varies based on the product and team dynamics. After years of interviewing and hiring, I developed what I call the CPT PM Hiring Framework (yes, I know too close to GPT these days, but that is the order of consideration).
The Funnel of Consideration
CPT: Company, Product, and Team is a funnel. First, the PM needs to fit into the company. Next, they need to fill a gap for the product, or have experience in the product space. And ultimately, they need to complement, not overlap, the team’s current skill sets. When it comes to the details, team fit is the most important.
But if the PM doesn’t fit into the company culture or have a skill the product needs, they may not thrive or, worse, hold the team back. 80% of what a PM does is communicate. They need to be able to communicate in a way the company will hear them. They need to know the language and needs of the product and its users. And they need to complement, not copy, the existing team members.
Let me walk you through the elements that shape each core category of consideration when hiring PMs.
The Company
When deciding who to hire, the first thing you need to do is consider the company dynamics. There are three (3) company elements:
Elements:
Stage
Size
Culture/Leadership
Explanation:
Stage - Startup or Mature. The more mature, the more specialized PMs typically get. The earlier stage, the more hunger trumps specialization, most of the time. Do they have the budget to hire big guns or need to find and grow junior but high-potential talent.
Size - The Venn diagram of Stage and Size has significant overlap, but you can be a well-funded startup that is larger and can afford a bit more specialization.
Leadership/Culture - The company leadership sets the culture, and this will determine who thrives. For example, Amazon wants data-driven PMs who write well, Google needs PMs who focus on what their engineers need while mastering verbal cross-functional communication, but startup founders tend to require a passion for the mission.
The Product
The next thing to consider is the product. The three (3) key elements here are:
Customer
Type
Strategy
Explanation:
Customer - B2C or B2B or both? When business users, are they SMB or Enterprise? Most PMs can empathize with consumers, but the smallest misunderstanding can go viral with a consumer product. While enterprise customers require an understanding of the buyer and the user. So when looking to fill roles, you are often looking for someone with the experience or passion to learn it.
Type - App. AI/ML heavy product. IoT. Marketplace with multiple stakeholders and users. SaaS, PaaS. App. (Again, Venn diagram overlap with Customer but in some cases worth asking about both).
Strategy - Focused on PMF. User Growth. Feature Growth. Table stakes to fend off competition. Land and Expand. International Expansion. Mature product with 5B users with safe and slow iterations that don’t disturb users every few weeks. Do I need more feature or growth focus?
Team
Once those minimum requirements are taken into consideration, we need to talk about the team dynamic.
Skill & Personality Mix
Leader’s Role
Opportunities
Partners
Explanation:
Mix - What does the current team look like? Is everyone very similar in skills or experience? This is one of the most important considerations. Humans like to hire people they like, so you often find teams with too many people who are alike. It is important to push beyond your comfort zone and bring in new and different talent.
Leader’s Role - Is the team leader more hands-on and can train talent? Or do they need to focus on executive communication? Are they in need of someone who can step up to mentor more?
Growth Opportunities - Are there growth opportunities for senior people? If not, maybe consider people with more room for growth so you don’t risk a great person coming in and getting frustrated.
Partners - Is your engineering partner frustrated with the current team composition? Do you need someone who can partner with legal to get a detailed initiative across the finish line?
Real-Life Examples
Pivot to Leader’s Needs: I had a client who had gone through 5 product team members in less than six months. I encouraged them to pivot and hire more junior PMs or career changers so the head of engineering could mold what they wanted because he was clashing with anyone experienced. But they also needed both marketplace and workflow experience. It worked. They hired a junior PM with workflow experience and a career changer with marketplace experience who wanted to be a PM. They have retained PMs ever since. This was a combination of understanding the Company (leadership), Product (specialization), and Team (how engineering works with product).
Company Personalities: As part of hiring teams at Amazon and Google, I would say yes to very different personalities. The companies were relatively the same size-wise but completely different cultures. At Amazon, you are rewarded for asking hard questions in group settings, at Google you are penalized for appearing combative and unsupportive. Some people thrive in both environment
Passion vs. Experience: When interviewing with startups, I have found showing the leadership you are passionate about the space trumps any product or team need. That is not to say that product-specific experience and team dynamics weren’t considered, but the leader wanted to see you were passionate and hungry. As the product reaches PMF, the leader will often let up on this requirement. I have seen this scenario it too many times to give a number.
Unexpected Mix Works - Let’s take my experience as a generalist working on platform teams. There are very few platform teams where I would be a fit. But I have supercharged platform teams if the company and team are ready for me. I am not a technical PM, even though I work on technical products. What I bring is a generalist approach that complements my technical counterparts. Actually, continuing to work on B2C products makes me even better at what I do for platform teams. This means, for me to be successful on a platform team, the company needs to be big enough and the hiring manager ready