Product Manager: you are what you measure

Product Managers don various avatars; that is the nature of the work. However, the product metrics that you measure defines what you really do.

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What you measure	Product Manager type
Rate at which features are churned out or feature backlog is consumed/burnt Complexity of the features added to the product	This role is essentially that of a Program Manager and a Project Manager as you are getting things done and helping ship products/features
Number of new users of the product (for consumer products) and number of businesses signed-up for trial or some sort of an initial engagement (for enterprise products) Effectiveness of the new-users of the product – cost incurred to attract a new user/business	A Product Marketing role – where you promote your product to the right target segment and get the best prospective customers/consumers to use the product
User engagement (say bounce rate, time spent, click-throughs etc) for consumer products and value addition for businesses (cost saved, increased productivity) for enterprise products Experiments run with clear hypothesis and product discoveries made	The heart of this role is that of a Product Manager – who is responsible for engaging the users of the product in every manner possible and extracting the maximum value. Also, one who runs selected experiments to discover ‘what next?’

In small organizations (mostly startups) – all these roles are packed into one and in large organizations – these roles are watertight compartments. A Product Manager who dons multiple hats should make sure that he/she does not spend disproportionate time on only one activity lest you run the risk of not really being a Product Manager in practice.

Essentially, you are what you measure.