The Three Ws of PM Career Growth
Rise faster by performing on all three axes: what you produce, what you bring, and how you operate
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 95%
A diagnostic for why some product managers with mediocre products grow fast while others on flagship products stall. Strong PMs are usually good at two of three axes; the ones who rise perform on all three: what you produce (output), what you bring to the table (quality of your artifacts), and your operating model (how you work with others). It reframes career growth away from 'pick a cool product' toward controllable craft.
Origin
Created by Vikrama Dhiman, Head of Product at Gojek, over a decade and a half of building and observing product managers across India, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Core principles
- 01Working on a high-impact product area does not guarantee growth
- 02Strong PMs excel at 2 of 3 axes; rising PMs perform on all 3
- 03Never abandon your IC roots even at senior levels — pull up your sleeves and do the work
- 04Growth comes from controllable craft, not from being handed the coolest product
How to run it
- 1
Master what you produce (output → outcome → direction)
Start by obsessing over outputs: tangible, quickly-shippable things like launching a product, running an experiment, or ranking content-sourcing options. As you get comfortable, move to outcomes (owning product areas and goals), then to leadership and directional work (deciding which outcomes matter). Crucially, keep delivering outputs even as you climb.
Pro tip Ask your product leader and other leaders what they are blocked on — a brief for a summit, a slide for a leadership review, a legal review — and volunteer to own the first draft even if you don't own the final.
Watch out Don't index on the big strategic piece before you've earned it. A PM who obsesses over 'overall content strategy' instead of just solving 'how do we source content' delivers nothing and makes no impact.
- 2
Raise the bar on what you bring to the table
This is your 'impact on impact' — proving you were a useful contributor to the product's success through the quality of your artifacts. Produce high-quality PRDs, product notes, north-star definitions, experiment designs, metrics work, and design briefs yourself. These demonstrate progress on the four pillars: data/metrics, design/research, technology, and strategy.
Pro tip Channelize questions, inputs, and direction into strategic choices that shape discussions — don't just bring arguments, debates, and pushbacks to the table.
Watch out Beware empty depth: a PRD with a title and no description, empty Jira story boards, or broken pre-sprint planning all signal you aren't actually bringing quality even if the artifacts nominally exist.
- 3
Refine your operating model
The most important axis for going from mid-senior to senior: communication, collaboration, organizational, and community skills — how you work with other stakeholders. Follow the three tenets of good PM collaboration and resist the 'mini-CEO' folklore that makes PMs operate as if they were the whole wheel rather than one cog.
Pro tip When pushing back, bring the tempo of the conversation from an emotional space down to a logical, equal-footing space — that's what lets you disagree without being seen as an obstacle.
Watch out Being 'empowered' is earned. Early on you haven't earned the right to inform strategy and vision — nobody has reason to follow you yet, so focus on getting stuff done.
In the wild
Dhiman's product area became the center and focus of the whole organization, yet when it grew, a different PM was chosen to lead it. He felt bad at the time, but later saw that peer was simply better at the overall craft of output — better at launching products, producing design artifacts with the design team, and running experiments — while never forgetting output as they moved to outcomes.
→ Reframed his own understanding: impact on a hot product area does not beat consistent craft across all three Ws.
A PM ranked the different avenues to source homepage content — easiest to hardest to source — instead of obsessing over the overall content strategy. The small, tangible output slotted directly into the broader outcome and made many people's work simpler.
→ A small output that fed a larger outcome and delivered real impact — exactly what obsessing over strategy would have prevented.
Common mistakes
Operating only in output or only in outcomes
PMs pick one mode and stall. When transitioning to outcomes you must keep honing outputs; when senior you must not forget your IC component.
Believing a cool product guarantees growth
The single biggest early-career misconception. Growth comes from demonstrable craft across all three Ws, not from the product area you were assigned.
Bringing arguments instead of strategic choices
PMs who bring debates, pushbacks, and arguments to the table rise slower than those who convert inputs into strategic choices that shape direction.
Is it for you?
Best for
Individual-contributor and mid-senior product managers who feel their career has stalled despite working on impactful products
Not ideal for
PMs at the very start who simply need to focus on shipping — the middle and top axes matter more as you become senior
From the transcript
“I created a career growth framework for product managers, which comprises of three things. And I call it three Ws. So, what you produce, what…”
“The really strong product managers are good at usually two or three two of the three things. The ones who rise, and when they are…”
“don't forget your IC roots, don't forget the IC component. And sometimes it is necessary to just pull up your sleeves and go back and…”
“So, the first axis is impact, but you also need to have an impact on impact.”
“Can you show me your last PRD? Can you show me the last product note that you sent? Can you show me the product strategy…”
From the episode
A framework for PM skill development
Vikrama Dhiman (Gojek)