What’s the #1 KPI for Product Managers?
I asked 20 product leaders and got 20 answers.
User satisfaction. User delight. User experience. User flow. Risk reduction. Story points per sprint. Features released. "Define the product strategy." (Is that a KPI?) "Being the glue." (Can that be measured?)
I asked Gemini:
ChatGPT says differently:
I Googled. Let’s just say the results didn’t clear anything up.
No wonder Product Managers are confused.
No wonder outsiders don’t get how we deliver value.
No wonder some execs wonder, “Do we really need more product managers?”
A painful lesson
In 2007, I was leading a digital product with terrible customer satisfaction. I pitched the exec committee:
“Better UX will boost adoption and usage. Our research says 70% of users would do more business with us if the experience improves.”
Proposal approved. Resources assigned. The team worked like crazy. We launched improvements. Satisfaction soared past 90%
Victory dance time? Nope.
The next year, my funding was slashed.
The CFO explained:
“Shardul, we invested to boost purchases and save money through digital. But your users are <2% of our base. We’re a $220M company. How can we continue to justify a $3M annual investment on such a small return?”
Ouch.
That’s when I realized: our primary KPI in Product Management isn’t velocity, features shipped, or even user satisfaction.
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