The PM Framework
While working as a product manager, I saw that my way of doing things was not described so well by the existing models, studies, or books. During the working day, I was interacting with a reality that was more spatial, 3-dimensional, and multi-layered while the literature, podcast, and trainings were describing linear models. I thought I should start writing and maybe I could add a small contribution to what Professional Product Management is about.
When I started having a team reporting to me, I had to teach a junior how to act within the reality of product development and have to find a way to explain in a simple but memorable format the problem at hand, why it occurred, and how to independently solve it. At the same time, I was getting new bigger challenges and I wanted to make sure I had mental models in place that would help me make good decisions. This is when I started searching for a framework that would contain most of the elements that I experience during the day, to be able to have a visual representation of the product manager experience so that it could be easy to put in front of me and the team to analyze it together.
Step by step, I started to arrange the pieces of the puzzle in models. Doing it over and over again, adding new things and removing some, and testing it the next day during work an interesting framework started to take shape. The more I was fine-tuning it, the more I could see that the framework started to be surprisingly similar to the logic and behavior of a football team in play (soccer team in play🙂). That’s what I call the product management framework (PM Framework or PMF). I use it during work in a large variety of situations, and I will try to explain it here with the hope that it will be useful for you to become a Pro Level Product Manager!
The standard version of the PM Framework and its classic form is displayed below:
On the football field, there is you and your team. Each is assigned to a specific position with a well-predetermined role. As a team, we all care about the product (and service) which means that the daily activity is consolidated around the common goal for each of us to do our part to make and deliver great products. A lot of factors will influence the size and complexity of the teams, sometimes you could not have some of those team players at all, sometimes there is one person in that area, and sometimes the area is under the responsibility of an entire department.
Within this PM Framework, as a product manager you are what we call in football the Central Midfielder, and you are also the Captain of the team (I will explain later why). So you are here:
Hi Captain!
When looking at the field in this format. On the left, you have the factories (units of production) and on the right, you have the Customers. In between are the multidisciplinary, often multicultural, matrix-structured teams responsible for adding their part to make the transfer of value from manufacturing to consumption. I hope you start to see yourself surrounded by your team, jumping and walking on the grass, and you also see their location. Some of them, like your Brand manager is right near you on the field, some are way more at the front (the Account managers) and some are way more at the back (The manufacturing team).
Daily, in an intensive running business, at different levels and between different teams there are a lot of communication exchanges of different nature - a lot of passes. The ball is in play. In some cases, you have to take initiative and pass the ball in the right direction, and in some you watch how the ball is passed between team players, evaluating the quality of the game in play and thinking about how to position yourself to further add value at the right moment.
Usually, the teams are quite busy, which means on the football field you see a lot of passing and a lot of football balls. If you watch closely and listen to your team you will see that not all the tasks on hand are the same. Some have a higher priority, urgency, or value and have to be passed sooner, some can wait, and some even if urgent stay without being passed for days or even months and no player is reaching for the ball to pass it further. It happens to you in the same way, some things are urgent and require fast and accurate passing to progress further, and some even if urgent or very important will be missed from your hindsight.
In football, the skills of the player are defined by his/her technical abilities, physical attributes, mental qualities, tactical understanding, personality, professionalism, and so on… And as in football, the skills of a manager could be surprisingly well classified into the same categories. When you are new, the chances are high that you will miss passing correctly the ball that is right in front of you, when you become more experienced you will start dribbling and redirecting accordingly even the passes that are still in the air.
Being a professional midfielder is a very interesting role. And I want you to be the best in class!
You may ask, what’s my favorite football team? Well, I am not a very big football fan. When I was younger, I was a fan of FC Barcelona; in the last few years, I have been watching closely FC Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp’s leadership style.
Until then, I leave you with a list of Top Midfielders:
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Best, F.L.