Product Manager Competency Matrix
One bar per competency, four levels of demonstration. A PM's level reflects where they consistently operate — roughly Emerging ≈ APM, Developing ≈ PM, Proficient ≈ SPM, Strong ≈ GPM.
What each competency measures
Experimentation & Data Literacy — Uses data and experimentation to validate assumptions before committing to product decisions. Chooses the validation method that fits the question — controlled tests, holdouts, longitudinal cohorts, or qualitative research — defines clear success metrics, and turns results into decisions. Anticipates risks before launch and strengthens the team's culture of learning through evidence.
Customer & Growth Insight — Understands the full customer journey and combines behavioral data with qualitative signal to find opportunities others miss. Goes beyond reporting what happened to the why behind behavior, and at the highest level builds the loops that compound — acquisition and activation flywheels, or engagement and retention loops.
Craft & Product Vision — Produces work that feels considered rather than merely functional, and can tell great from good. Holds a quality bar across flow, copy, timing, and feel — and beyond catching flaws, has a generative sense of what should exist to make an experience delightful and worth returning to.
Business Impact & Prioritization — Frames product decisions in terms of measurable business outcomes. Balances customer needs, business objectives, and effort to prioritize work that drives meaningful impact on conversion, retention, engagement, or revenue.
Product Strategy & Execution — Plans and drives product initiatives end-to-end with clarity and ownership. Breaks down complex problems, manages cross-functional delivery, and adapts execution as new information and results come in.
Collaboration & Product Leadership — Builds trust and alignment across cross-functional teams. Communicates priorities clearly, incorporates diverse perspectives, and demonstrates the accountability and follow-through that lets teams move fast and ship well.
Levels
| Competency | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Strong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimentation & Data Literacy | Runs a single validation (A/B or guarded rollout) with support; relies on others to frame the hypothesis. | Runs and interprets validations independently; picks a sensible method and knows its common failure modes. | Matches method and cadence to the bet — fast A/Bs where iteration is cheap, holdouts or longitudinal analysis where effects are slow to isolate. | Shapes the experimentation approach for their area, raises the team's rigor, and mentors on choosing the right method — not just running more tests. |
| Customer & Growth Insight | Notices where users drop off or disengage when prompted; sees metrics individually, not as a journey. | Maps the relevant journey and prioritizes the obvious opportunities from data and feedback. | Finds high-leverage opportunities others miss and understands the why behind behavior, blending qual and quant. | Creates and sustains the loops that compound — acquisition/activation flywheels or engagement/retention loops — and balances them at portfolio level. |
| Craft & Product Vision | Ships to spec and takes design and copy direction well; developing an eye for what feels good, not just what works. | Holds a quality bar — catches rough edges in flow, copy, timing, and feel before launch rather than shipping around them. | Owns the quality of what ships and shapes experiences meant to feel delightful and sticky; can say why one version feels better, not just that it does. | Defines what "great" means at Lumosity and what's worth building to get there; others calibrate their own taste against this person's judgment. |
| Business Impact & Prioritization | Focuses on completing assigned work; building a sense of how it ladders up to conversion, retention, and revenue. | Connects tasks to goals and weighs customer value, business impact, and effort when prioritizing. | Frames initiatives in measurable outcomes and makes thoughtful trade-offs; measures impact after launch. | Identifies high-impact opportunities, knows where speed beats polish and where it doesn't, and influences with data-backed reasoning. |
| Product Strategy & Execution | Contributes to execution of assigned initiatives with guidance; learning planning and delivery. | Independently runs smaller initiatives end-to-end and keeps stakeholders informed of progress and risk. | Owns initiatives end-to-end — breaks down complexity, anticipates risk, and adapts as new information arrives. | Improves how the team delivers, clears blockers proactively, and consistently turns strategy into shipped customer value. |
| Collaboration & Product Leadership | Builds positive relationships on the immediate team, communicates openly, and is receptive to feedback. | Collaborates well across Eng, Design, and Data — shares context, seeks alignment, and folds in feedback. | Builds trust across teams, facilitates constructive discussion, balances viewpoints, and follows through. | Leads through influence, elevates team effectiveness, mentors others, and is a dependable cross-functional leader. |
Two competencies look different on Growth vs Core in practice — Experimentation & Data Literacy, and Customer & Growth Insight. The bar is the same on both teams; only the evidence differs by surface. When there's any doubt about what "meets the bar" looks like for a given PM, see the companion examples sheet. The other four competencies — including Craft, which both teams need equally — read the same on both and need no split.