Performance Management Frameworks

✨ New resource: a PM Performance Evaluation template Throughout my 15+ years as a PM, I’ve consistently felt that ladder-based PM performance evaluations seem broken, but I couldn’t quite find the words to describe why. Early on in my PM career, I was actually part of the problem — I happily created or co-created elaborate PM ladders in spreadsheets, calling out all sorts of nuances between what “Product Quality focus” looks like at the PM3 level vs. at the Sr. PM level. (looking back, it was a non-trivial amount of nonsense — and having seen several dozens of ladder spreadsheets at this point, I can confidently say this is the case for >90% of such ladder spreadsheets) So that led me to develop the Insight-Execution-Impact framework for PM Performance Evaluations, which you can see in the picture below. I then used this framework informally to guide performance conversations and performance feedback for PMs on my team at Stripe — and I have also shared this with a dozen founders who’ve adapted it for their own performance evaluations as they have established more formal performance systems at their startups. And now, you can access this framework as an easy to update & copy Coda doc (link in the comments). How to use this template as a manager? In a small company that hasn’t yet created the standard mess of elaborate spreadsheet-based career ladders, you might consider adopting this template as your standard way of evaluating and communication PM performance (and you can marry it with other sane frameworks such as PSHE by Shishir Mehrotra to decide when to promote a given PM to the next level e.g. GPM vs. Director vs. VP). In a larger company that already has a lot of legacy, habits, and tools around career ladders & perf, you might not be able to wholesale replace your existing system & tools like Workday. That is fine. If this framework resonates with you, I’d still recommend that you use it to actually have meaningful conversations with your team members around planning what to expect over the next 3 / 6 / 9 months and also to provide more meaningful context on their performance & rating. When I was at Stripe, we used Workday as our performance review tool, but I first wrote my feedback in the form of Insight - Execution - Impact (privately) and then pasted the relevant parts of my write-up into Workday. So that’s it from me. Again, the link to the template is in the comments. And if you want more of your colleagues to see the light, there’s even a video in that doc, in which I explain the problem and the core framework in more detail. I hope this is useful.

Want to improve performance? And do it reliably, efficiently, and effectively? Here's how I think about doing this... In order to improve performance, we have to define what performance is. To define performance, we should NOT brainstorm, we should DERIVE what performance is by using a systematic process. I like Rummler/Brache's 9 Boxes Model. Here's the TL;DR Define the 3 levels of performance goals: 1) Org Goals 2) Process Goals 3) Job Goals To identify the right processes to focus on, I prefer working off a customer journey framework. Why? The major goal of the customer journey can be easily and directly linked to your organizational goals. The primary customer journey goal can be deconstructed into sub goals related to acquiring customers, deploying customers, and driving growth/value for customers. Each sub goal can be associated to the phases in the customer journey. Each phase can have process-level goals. Once process-level goals have been established for each phase, we can define the outputs/milestones that need to be produced/achieved in that phase. Once the outputs have been established, we can define the roles & responsibilities involved in producing each output. We can also use a repeatable framework to perform a gap analysis to identify all potential gaps (environmental and individual) that are preventing/making it difficult to produce those outputs. By continually identifying and addressing the gaps that prevent outputs from being produced to their standard, we can continually improve performance... ...with reliability, efficiency, and effectiveness.

I just read about a study I can’t stop thinking about… Say-do framework is the best predictor of employee’s performance (according to Harvard). Conventional wisdom suggests that the best indicators of employee performance are: • Educational background • Years of experience • Interview performance These factors are favored in hiring decisions and are seen as more reliable. And 72% of HR professionals rely heavily on resumes to predict job success. Look at most companies' hiring practices, the bias is clear: 85% of recruiters say the resume is the most important part of the hiring process. Is conventional wisdom correct? A study from Harvard says otherwise… Quiet power exists in alignment between words and actions. And in certain situations, say-do consistency makes the better employee. Here's why: Traditional metrics have their place. But they often fail to capture an employee's potential and work ethic. Enter the Say-Do Framework. It's elegantly simple: Compare what people say they'll do with what they actually do. This is especially true in dynamic, unpredictable environments. It's most effective when the stakes are high. The science backs it up. Work studies show a strong correlation between Say-Do consistency and Key Performance Indicators. Employees with high Say-Do alignment are: • 37% more productive • 42% better at team collaboration • 28% increased innovation But societal understanding needs to catch up with this research. It's time we debunk these myths about employee performance: 1. Past Performance ≠ Future Results The Say-Do Framework focuses on current actions and commitments. It provides a real-time measure of an employee's reliability and effectiveness. Understand this metric and help employees align their words with their actions. 2. High Performers Always Stand Out Just because someone isn't the loudest in meetings doesn't mean they're not delivering. The Say-Do Framework measures quiet consistency. Actions speak louder than words – literally. 3. Personality Tests Predict Success 76% of companies with 100+ employees use personality tests. But the Say-Do Framework outperforms them by focusing on: • Actual behavior • Commitment fulfillment • Consistency over time Many top performers excel in Say-Do alignment, regardless of personality type. If you're a manager, embrace this strategic advantage. Here's how: 1. Implement Say-Do Tracking Monitor commitments and their fulfillment. You can't improve what you don't measure. Take time to record what employees promise and what they deliver. Balance accountability with support. 2. Foster a Say-Do Culture Use this framework to build a culture of reliability and trust. Your team's ability to depend on each other can unlock unprecedented productivity. 3. Recognize Say-Do Champions If you identify employees with high Say-Do alignment, empower them. They're your hidden gems, driving performance through consistency and reliability.

Alongside putting Company Culture on the CEOs todo list, one of my main focus over the past 8 years has been to help founders design lean and efficient Performance Management frameworks. Performance Management the way we know it is broken. Plenty of researches and studies have highlighted over the past decades that: ❌ Pay-by-performance actually decreases both performance and engagement ❌ Measuring performance against objectives in a constantly changing environment is pointless ❌ Conversations about compensation provoke a ‘fight or flight’ reaction among employees, which inhibits any productive effect of feedback at the time of the annual review While discussions with founders are encouraging, my findings are that actions have not kept pace with the intention. Too many continue to look for popular industry templates to copy-paste. And what makes it worse is that when things aren’t working, they respond with even more complex variations of old approaches! These are the main reasons for that:  👉 Their fear of losing key talent when going outside industry norms (instead of following their management principles and educating employees) 👉 The difficulty of converting new insights into practice (because it is a heavy time investment!) 👉 The lack of thinking about this early enough (and by the time they do, it is too late to think as they need solutions FAST!) 👉 Scepticism regarding the growing evidences (researches/ case studies) and the weight given to compelling counter-evidence (because at the end of the day, change is not easy) 👉 A concern that the insights might not translate to their specific operating environments (because they are looking for copy-paste models as opposed to designing their own based on those insights) As a result, there has been limited innovation in performance-based pay frameworks and, arguably, more complexity. But I am on a mission to change that 💪. The majority of my clients now take this leap of faith with me to design their own system… And not only is it really boosting their performance, but it is way simpler for everyone!! So if you too want a lean and efficient Performance Management framework, ✅ Invest in the definition of your key principles and your philosophy about performance EARLY enough (before you reach 30 employees) ✅ Find someone who can be a sounding board AND challenge your ideas ✅ Be clear about what problem you are trying to solve before building anything (is there even a problem??) #PeopleStrategy #PerformanceManagement #OrganisationDesign #Leadership #FromZeroTo1000